Court Finds Nasarawa United, NPFL, NFF Negligent in Martins’ Death

In a landmark ruling, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria has found Nasarawa United, the Nigeria Professional Football League NPFL, the Nigeria Football Federation NFF, and a match commissioner guilty of negligence in the tragic death of Chineme Martins, a player who collapsed and died on the pitch in 2020.

Martins, who was just 25 years old at the time, passed away during a league match at the Lafia Township Stadium. The court ruled that key medical safety protocols were blatantly ignored there was no medical doctor, no physiotherapist, and no functioning ambulance available at the venue.

The judgment revealed that Martins had not undergone an echocardiogram a standard heart test during any of his three seasons with the club. The court deemed this failure “reprehensible” and stated that Nasarawa United had clearly breached its duty of care. The NFF, NPFL, and match commissioner were also found culpable for not enforcing minimum health and safety standards.

Martins’ family, represented by lawyers backed by global footballers’ union FIFPRO, have been awarded compensation. His brother, Michael Martins, expressed a sense of closure and justice following the ruling, saying, “The court has spoken… they did not take into consideration my brother’s safety, health, and welfare.”

Editorial

The verdict in the Chineme Martins case is more than a court ruling—it’s a reckoning. After five years of silence, evasions, and bureaucratic delays, justice has finally spoken for a young man whose life was lost on a football pitch that should have been a field of dreams not of death.

The court didn’t mince words. No medical testing. No trained professionals. No ambulance. Not in an amateur setting, but in Nigeria’s top-flight league. It was a fatal cocktail of negligence and disregard that cost a life and exposed the shameful state of athlete welfare in Nigerian football.

What makes this even more painful is that it was avoidable. An echocardiogram—basic, inexpensive, routine could have flagged the condition that led to his collapse. But no one asked, no one checked, and no one acted.

This ruling must be a line in the sand. Enough of lip service to player welfare. Enough of ghost ambulances and phantom medics. If football in Nigeria is to be taken seriously domestically and globally it must start by protecting the people who make the game possible.

Chineme Martins should still be playing today. He’s not. But his legacy might just be the change Nigerian football desperately needs.

Did You Know?

1. Chineme Martins was 25 years old when he collapsed and died during an NPFL game in March 2020.
2. The match was played without a medical doctor or functional ambulance violating league safety protocols.
3. Echocardiograms are now mandated in most professional leagues around the world for all players at the start of each season.
4. FIFPRO, the global players’ union, supported Martins’ family throughout the legal process.
5. This case marks the first time a Nigerian football club and national federation have been held legally accountable for a player’s death due to medical negligence.