Remo Stars FC of Ikenne captain, Junior Nduka is singing praises for the NPFL’s Prostar Evolution Ball that is being used officially for all matches in Nigeria’s top-flight league this season, but opined that it should have been introduced earlier.
Read Also: 2024/2025 Ogun State President Cup Final Set: Beyond Limit FA Vs Imperial FC
While providing his personal assessment of the impact that NPFL’s Prostar Evolution Ball has made this season in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Nduka pointed out that many players have not been able to adjust to its variations because it was not introduced early enough.
Nduka stated further in a chat with Sports247: “It’s a good ball, and quite special. I am happy that we are making use of our own ball in the NPFL. However, maybe due to logistics, but I think we should have started using the ball before the start of this season, so the players would get used to it.”
The skipper of Honourable Kunle Soname’s club, who are currently leading the NPFL table and look good to be crowned champions at the end of this season, also pointed out how the official ball creates varying impacts on different types of playing surfaces, which he said some players are still battling to understand in recent fixtures across the country.
“We all play on different grounds. Some on grass pitches, while others make use of astro turf. All these pitches are not the same, and the way they would bounce the ball is different from one another.
“For instance, you can’t compare Ikenne Stadium to the Jos Stadium. They provide two different game situations. So, players need to study the different stages, get used to them, and know how to go about it with the official match ball,” Nduka posited.
Despite the missing points he noticed in NPFL’s implementation of NPFL’s Prostar Evolution Ball in the league, Nduka welcomed it as a great indigenous innovation for the top-flight division, which his team appears likely to win for the first time in their history, after finishing second in the past two seasons.
