Rivers United FC

Rivers United came together because two state-owned sides could no longer justify their separate existence. Sharks and Dolphins, both run by the Rivers State Government and both drifting near the bottom of the table, were merged in February 2016 on the instruction of Governor Nyesom Wike, who wanted one properly resourced club rather than two struggling ones. The new side simply took over Dolphins' place in the Nigerian Premier Football League.

The state still owns and bankrolls the club, and the result of that backing showed in the 2021–22 season, when Rivers United won the NPFL title with 77 points, a league record. It was a first championship for a club not even six years old, built on the groundwork laid earlier that year of the merger, when they had already picked up the Super Four and the Shehu Dikko Cup.

Heartland provide the other contest that draws a crowd.

Stanley Eguma was the coach who got Rivers United over the line in 2022, having stayed with the project through the leaner years that followed the merger. Finidi George, once a winger for the Super Eagles, took over as head coach in July 2024, and is now tasked with adding to what Eguma started.