Doma United Are Top Of The NPFL, And Enyimba Could Not Touch Them
Gombe · Sunday 13 September 2026
Doma United beat Enyimba 2-0 at the Pantami Stadium to stay top of the NPFL with a perfect record. Sadiq Rilwan opened the scoring two minutes after the hour, and the hosts controlled the rest.
Who Enyimba are supposed to be
Nigeria's most successful club, back-to-back African champions in 2003 and 2004, the side every other NPFL team measures itself against. Losing at Gombe in September is not a crisis. Being controlled for ninety minutes by a club with a fraction of the history is a data point.
What a perfect start is actually worth
| What it proves now | What it will not survive |
|---|---|
| The squad is fit and settled | A run of away fixtures |
| The coaching is working | Losing two players in January |
| Home form is real | Continental travel, if it ever comes |
Every NPFL season produces an early leader. Few of them are there in May.
The interesting question about Doma United is not whether they stay top. It is whether anybody outside Gombe is watching while they are.
The part the league keeps failing
A domestic league with a genuine title race in September should be the easiest product in Nigerian sport to sell. Instead the NPFL competes with the Premier League for the attention of its own supporters, loses, and then loses its best players to clubs abroad who scout the games it cannot persuade Nigerians to watch. Doma's run is a marketing opportunity. It will probably pass unused.
Reporting: Complete Sports, BSN Sports and Voice of Nigeria.
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