Sunshine Stars players’ salary, stadium and 2026/27 season news

Sunshine Stars lost 19 of their 38 league games in 2024/25 and were relegated from the NPFL when the season ended on 25 May 2025, finishing 19th with 41 points. They now play in Group A of the Nigeria National League, drew 1-1 at Edel FC on 7 November 2026 and host Remo Stars on Saturday 14 November.

One away win in 19 trips

Sportmonks does not carry the National League, so the last season we can measure in full is the 2024/25 NPFL. We recalculated it from the Sportmonks fixtures on 13 November 2026. It matches the final table.

Home form of 1.84 points a game would have kept most clubs up, and a season of that at every ground would have meant roughly 70 points. There were four home defeats all season. Away was another matter. Fifteen defeats. Thirty-four goals conceded, 1.79 a game.

One win.

It came 2-1 at Akwa United on 28 September 2024, in a season that ended with both clubs relegated, and Akwa United's own story is on our Akwa United salary and stadium page.

Sunshine Stars failed to score in 16 of their 38 games. Ahmadu Liman's seven league goals are the highest return we found for the club, according to Sportmonks data, and no one else reached double figures.

What the players earn, and what nobody has published

No individual wage at Sunshine Stars is public.

Nobody has published a figure for players, and we will not print a guess.

The only published floor belongs to another division. The National Sports Commission and the Nigeria Football Federation approved a minimum of ₦2 million a month for NPFL players in June 2026, and the commission chairman, Shehu Dikko, said that “players must earn a living wage”. The announcement names the NPFL only. At the official rate of about ₦1,350 to the dollar on 12 November 2026, ₦2 million is roughly $1,481 a month.

Arrears are older news. In February 2018 the Ondo State Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, said the club owed its players, coaches and agency management more than ₦400 million. We found no 2026 figure. Bigger pay packets elsewhere are in our guide to the highest-paid players in the Nigerian league.

Akure, Ijebu-Ode and a venue feed that disagrees

The Ondo State Football Agency lists Akure Township Stadium for the 2026/27 home games against Remo Stars, Godswill Akpabio United and Crown FC. That is the working address. Capacity is murky. Public references give the ground anything from 2,806 to 5,000 seats, and Sportmonks says 18,000, so we publish none.

It was not always home. While the Akure ground was being renovated the club moved to the Dipo Dina International Stadium in Ijebu-Ode, and the NPFL approved a return there on 25 March 2025 after a spell at the Remo Stars ground in Ikenne. Sportmonks tags 13 of the 19 home games in 2024/25 at Dipo Dina and six at Akure Township Stadium. The feed's venue labels and the press account of the moves do not line up, and the detour through Ikenne is the part the feed does not show, so we draw no conclusion from that split. Every top-flight ground is in our guide to NPFL clubs and stadiums.

Akinfolarin, Group A and the next five dates

The Ondo State Football Agency unveiled Bobola Akinfolarin as head coach in November 2025 on a one-year deal. He had been technical director of Sunshine Queens. We found no announcement of a renewal or a successor.

Defender Linus Christopher has left, joining Ikorodu City on a three-year deal on 20 July 2026, as we reported on our Ikorodu City page. No list of arrivals turned up.

Only the group winner goes up to the 2027/28 NPFL.

Heartland, relegated with Sunshine Stars in 2025, are in the same group.

Remo Stars beat Sunshine Stars 1-0 and 2-1 in the 2024/25 NPFL.

This article was most recently revised and updated 18 seconds ago