Preparations for the National Volleyball League which is expected to commence this April is already in top gear, as reports from the federation reveal that 6 locations across the different geo-political zones have been selected.
The league kicks-off with the zonal qualifiers which takes place from the 6th – 15th of April. In a phone conversation with the General Secretary of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Maikano Alhaji Adamu, he revealed the different locations where the zonal qualifiers will be held.
According to him, the North West teams which include: Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Jigawa will have their zonal qualifiers in Katsina; the teams from the North Central region (Abuja, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarrawa, Niger, Jos) will play in Benue; while those in the North East (Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe) will have their qualifiers in Gombe.
Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos will play host to the South West teams (Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun); while for those in the South East, he revealed that they are most likely going to play in Imo state because “they told me to write a letter to Imo state to allow them use the facility.”
He then added that Kwara state will play host to the military and para-military teams but that he isn’t aware of the location for the South South zonal qualifiers.
With the league set to start in less than 10 days, the total number of teams and players registered for the 2018 National Volleyball League is yet to be known.
According to the General Secretary, Maikano Alhaji Adamu, this is because “the league starts at the zonal level and we have the board of representatives for each zone to take care of the registration. So they are yet to submit the documents for us to know the number of teams registered in each zone.”
When asked when the information would be available, he said: “I can’t give you an exact date but I know they are working it out because the deadline for registration is end of this month (March).”
To corroborate what Alhaji Adamu said, Olusegun Abinde – Ogun State coach and a member of the federation said adequate information concerning the venues for the zonal qualifiers, list of registered teams and players would be made available once registration closes.
