Former Warri Wolves assistant Paul Offor joins Sporting Lagos as head coach

Sporting Lagos have announced the appointment of Paul Offor as the club's new head coach ahead of the 2023 Nigeria National League (NNL).

The Lagos-based club only founded in 2022, will alongside 42 other clubs, participate in the 2023 NNL season in a bid to gain promotion to Nigeria's top flight, the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).

In an official announcement by the club, Sporting Lagos revealed that Offor was joining them from Cotonou-based Premier League club, Djeffa FC.

“Everything about Sporting Lagos excites me," Paul Offor said in reaction to his appointment.

"I love the focus on developing young players through a youth team, and creating a pathway for them to play in the first team, and I’m delighted at the prospect of integrating youth and experience to achieve our goals."

Offor would anticipate replicating his time at Warri Wolves at Sporting Lagos. In 2019 while working as an assistant coach at the Warri club, Wolves gained promotion to the NPFL.

Meanwhile, Sporting Lagos are drawn in Group B2 of the Southern Conference in the 2023 NNL season, alongside Joy Cometh, Smart City, Ijebu United, Crown and Gateway United.

Their first game of the season will see them play Lagos-based Smart City at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Onikan on Wednesday, March 22.

In their first season as a professional football club, Sporting Lagos escaped relegation to Nigeria's third division - NLO, on goal difference.