Udi backs proposed 20-team NNL format, targets Sunshine Stars return

Sunshine Stars technical adviser Duke Udi has backed the proposed expansion of the Nigeria National League’s Northern and Southern Conferences to 20 teams each for the 2026/2027 season, while setting promotion as his target with the Akure club.

The proposal is due to be considered at the NNL Annual General Meeting in Owerri this weekend. If approved, each conference would have 38 rounds of matches, with the top two teams from both the Northern and Southern sections earning promotion to the Nigeria Premier Football League.

Udi believes a straight league system would improve the second tier by creating a longer and more competitive campaign. He also called for stronger media support, pointing to the role the domestic game played in developing prominent Nigerian players across previous decades, including Austin Okocha, Segun Odegbami, Adokiye Amiesimaka, Rashidi Yekini, Finidi George and Nwankwo Kanu.

The coach said Sunshine Stars have the backing of the Ondo State Government and Divine Ogbonnaya, who chairs both the club and the Ondo State Football Agency. He said Ogbonnaya attended the team’s preseason match in Abeokuta on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, and has consistently followed the players’ training.

Udi added that the chairman is the only club chairman to have paid the team’s salaries in full since the end of the 2025/2026 season. He said the club’s main outstanding need was a better vehicle for away travel, with assurances that discussions would take place with Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa over providing a new bus before the new campaign begins.

Sunshine Stars were in Abeokuta on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, for the Gold Cup Preseason Tournament as preparations continued. Udi, who is serving his third spell at the club, said the team’s work in the tournament is part of a push to return Sunshine Stars to the top flight in the coming season.