One player will win a N30,000 cash prize every month for outstanding contribution to his team beginning from the next Nigeria Premier League season.

This is courtesy of a monthly best player award initiated by Soccer Press, a monthly football magazine to help motivate players in the domestic league.

“Everybody will agree that among all the problems people may say the domestic league has, good players are not one of them. We have many talented players in all tiers of our domestic league and they deserve to be encouraged by all of us,” Andrew Randa, spokesperson for the magazine told journalists.

Selection of the winner will be done by a panel of avid league followers, he said.

“We also made sure we democratized the process even further for transparency and objectivity. Every member of the public can nominate a player for the award on our website, www.soccerpress.net, clearly stating why s/he feels the player deserves the award,” he added.

He also disclosed that criteria that will be used for picking the winner include how well he played, his coordination with teammates and his contributions to his team’s overall performance in the period under review.

“We should go beyond idolizing players that have gotten promoted to the global stage and work on telling the ones here at home that they are also valued by us. The domestic league is the platform from which most of them get their opportunity. Yes, many people have lost interest in the league but it is our collective duty to re-invigorate it. We believe the new interim league management committee will need all the help available to restore public confidence in the league before their term runs out,” he added.