Country Nigeria Number of teams 32 Promotion to Nigeria Premier League | Confederation CAF Level on pyramid 2 | |
 | ||
Founded 1979 (reorganized 1991) | ||
The Nigeria National League (formerly National Division 1) is the second tier of club football in Nigeria.
Contents
History
From 1997-2011, the league has been split into 1A for Northern teams and 1B for southern teams. The top two from each division are promoted to the Nigerian Premier League the next season. The exceptions were the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons where there were four divisions of eight teams each, with each division winner winning promotion. Up to four teams in each division are relegated each season to the Amateur First Division. The league was renamed June 19, 2008. In 2012 the league expanded from 32 to 36 teams with 2 more teams promoted. The league used the 2006 format, with four divisions of nine teams each, with division winners receiving automatic promotion. In 2012-13, it went back to two divisions of sixteen. For the 2015 season, it use four divisions of eight teams.
2016 season
Season began May 7 and ended in October Teams in bold won promotion to 2017 Nigeria Professional Football League
Past winners
The league was a single table until 1998. Between 1998-2011 winners of the North and South divisions played a one-game playoff to determine the overall Division champion. Since 2011 the champion has been determined by a Super Four mini-league between the four promoted teams.