{"id":2622,"date":"2026-07-03T11:38:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T08:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/barau-fc-retain-21-players-as-they-plan-for-the-2026-27-npfl-season\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T11:38:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T08:38:46","slug":"barau-fc-retain-21-players-as-they-plan-for-the-2026-27-npfl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/barau-fc-retain-21-players-as-they-plan-for-the-2026-27-npfl-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Barau FC retain 21 players as they plan for the 2026\/27 NPFL season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barau FC, a Nigeria Premier Football League outfit, has kept hold of 21 players as it builds for the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n<h2>Retained squad for 2026\/27 preparations<\/h2>\n<p>General Manager Dominic Iorfa confirmed the group following discussions with the club\u2019s technical department, describing the move as a way to preserve momentum after a promising NPFL debut campaign.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Emeka Nwabulu<\/li>\n<li>Chisom Chiaha<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Destiny<\/li>\n<li>Sugau Aliyu<\/li>\n<li>Bismark Duah<\/li>\n<li>Usman Maidubuji<\/li>\n<li>Henry Ezeonye<\/li>\n<li>Chisom Nkwocha<\/li>\n<li>Orji Kalu<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Jimmy Ambrose<\/li>\n<li>Nura Muhammad<\/li>\n<li>Moses Tsehuan<\/li>\n<li>Sa\u2019ad Tijjani<\/li>\n<li>Ebuka Nwokorie<\/li>\n<li>Sunday Anthony<\/li>\n<li>Hillary Ekawu<\/li>\n<li>Joseph Atule<\/li>\n<li>Adamu Hussaini<\/li>\n<li>Ibrahim Yunusa<\/li>\n<li>Uche Moses<\/li>\n<li>Stanley Oganbor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The club also expressed appreciation to the players who will not be continuing with the team, thanking them for their commitment and contributions.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, Barau FC said: \u201cBarau FC would like to thank all departing players for their service and commitment to the club and wishes them every success in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Progress under Iorfa and targets for the new campaign<\/h2>\n<p>After a difficult start to last season, the Kano-based club rallied to finish eighth, with Iorfa credited for guiding the side\u2019s improvement. Barau FC now aims to take that progress forward and bolster key parts of its squad ahead of the new league term.<\/p>\n<h2>Restructuring keeps key staff in place<\/h2>\n<p>Alongside the player retention, Barau FC has also retained multiple members of its technical, administrative and backroom setup as part of restructuring ahead of the 2026\/27 Nigeria Premier Football League season.<\/p>\n<h3>Technical and training roles<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Technical Adviser Eugene Agagbe<\/li>\n<li>Chief Coach Madu Muhammad<\/li>\n<li>Goalkeeper Trainer Dahiru Dalhatu<\/li>\n<li>Fitness Trainer Sirajo Mukhtar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Administration, medical and support staff<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Club Secretary<\/li>\n<li>All six members of the media department<\/li>\n<li>TMS Manager Umar Lawan Yusuf<\/li>\n<li>Club Doctor Sani Idris<\/li>\n<li>Masseur Nafi\u2019u Usman<\/li>\n<li>Curators Ibrahim Sani and Abubakar Shehu<\/li>\n<li>Chief Security Officer Idris Musa Abubakar<\/li>\n<li>The club\u2019s four drivers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Barau FC thanked staff affected by the restructuring for their dedication and directed them to hand back all club property to the Club Secretary on or before July 4, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The club added that further appointments for the roles of Coordinator, Sporting Director, Technical Director and Welfare Officer will be announced later as the restructuring process continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barau FC, a Nigeria Premier Football League outfit, has kept hold of 21 players as it builds for the 2026\/27 season. Retained squad for 2026\/27 preparations General Manager Dominic Iorfa confirmed the group following discussions with the club\u2019s technical department, describing the move as a way to preserve momentum after a promising NPFL debut campaign. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Barau FC Retain 21 Players Ahead of 2026\/27 NPFL Season","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Barau FC confirm retention of 21 players for the 2026\/27 NPFL season, keeping momentum after a promising debut campaign and squad ","mma_seo_breadcrumb_text":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_url":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_hide_ui":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_labels":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Barau FC Retain 21 Players Ahead of 2026\/27 NPFL Season<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Barau FC confirm retention of 21 players for the 2026\/27 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Over four years, she helped evolve the platform from a simple blog into one of South Africa\u2019s leading independent entertainment news sites. Following ZAlebs\u2019 transition to Celebrity Worx in 2016, Zibuyile was promoted to Executive Editor, recognized for her sharp audience insight and ability to match editorial with branded content. Highlights of her time include a Bookmark Award nomination, judging TLC\u2019s Next Great Presenter, reporting from the MTV EMAs, and building partnerships with radio stations like YFM, Cliff Central, and Good Hope FM. Her editorial work also expanded to include fast-growing digital verticals\u2014such as lifestyle tech, online entertainment, and gambling-related content\u2014tailored to evolving reader interests and brand opportunities.","sameAs":["https:\/\/za.linkedin.com\/in\/zibuyile-dladla-9a26628a"],"url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/author\/zibuyile-dladla\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}