{"id":3238,"date":"2026-10-29T11:31:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/nnl-amuneke-vows-heartland-will-fight-for-promotion-in-new-season\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:31:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:31:57","slug":"nnl-amuneke-vows-heartland-will-fight-for-promotion-in-new-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/nnl-amuneke-vows-heartland-will-fight-for-promotion-in-new-season\/","title":{"rendered":"NNL: Amuneke Vows Heartland Will Fight For Promotion In New Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Heartland technical manager Emmanuel Amuneke has expressed his desire to lead the Owerri-based club back to the Nigeria Premier Football League , NPFL, this season.<\/p>\n<p>The Naze Millionaires narrowly missed out on promotion from the Nigeria National League , NNL, last season and will begin the new campaign with a home fixture against Crown FC on Sunday, November 1, 2026.<\/p>\n<h3>Amuneke Ready For Promotion Fight<\/h3>\n<p>Amuneke said he was eager to secure a swift return to the top flight but stressed the importance of following the right process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also want us to be back in the NPFL as quickly as possible,\u201d Amuneke told the NNL media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut over the years, with my experience, I have learned to understand that in life, nothing happens without a process. Those processes began when I arrived here, and I am happy that today, we are in a position to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Also:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.completesports.com\/npfl-amuneke-confirms-heartlands-preparations-for-2026-2027-season-underway\/\">NNL: Amuneke Confirms Heartland\u2019s Preparations For 2026\/2027 Season Underway<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Pre-Season Preparations Crucial<\/h3>\n<p>The former Nigeria international also reflected on Heartland\u2019s preparations for the 2026\/27 season, explaining that their pre-season friendlies provided an opportunity to assess new players and develop a suitable playing style.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we started this season\u2019s preparations, we played a friendly game against Enyimba and lost. We also played against Akwa United in Uyo, where we were beaten,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe games were used to look at the new boys that we wanted to incorporate into the team. It was from there that we started developing a pattern that we wanted to play.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Players Adapting To New Environment<\/h3>\n<p>Despite the disappointing results in those friendly matches, Amuneke expressed satisfaction with how quickly the new players had adapted to his tactical demands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are happy and grateful that we have been able to see the players adapting so quickly. I will say kudos to everyone for the great job done,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you have a group of players who are willing and coachable, it is always a thing of joy to the coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>By Adeboye Amosu <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Complete Sports<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heartland technical manager Emmanuel Amuneke has expressed his desire to lead the Owerri-based club back to the Nigeria Premier Football League , NPFL, this season. The Naze Millionaires narrowly missed&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}