Side Kick

Where NFF should burn up N2.5bn NB Plc sponsorship deal

 

With Adebayo Olodan

Beyond the impressive results posted by our senior and junior national teams in recent months, the Nigeria Football Federation under the leadership of Amaju Marvin Pinnick scored another point following the N2.5billion sponsorship deal signed with the Nigeria Breweries Plc.
For some years, the NFF had struggled to convince sponsorship and funding for the national teams but the agreement with one of the biggest brewers of alcoholic beverages in the country at the weekend is a huge boost to Nigerian football.
The sponsorship deal, which will run for an initial five years, will give the brewing outfit the right to endorse all of the NFF’s products.
According to the agreement, the NFF will get a whooping N450 million from Nigeria Breweries every year and it also makes Star Lager the ‘Official Alcoholic Drink of the Super Eagles’ while Amstel Malta is now the ‘Official Malt Drink of the NFF and the national teams,’ including the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup –bound Super Eagles.
At the unveiling of the contract in Lagos on Friday, the NFF bigwigs, including its president, Amaju Pinnick, and NB Plc’s Managing Director/CEO, Jordi Borrut Bel pledged the total commitment of their organisations to every letter of the contract.
“There were other companies that were interested in these categories but once Nigerian Breweries landed, they landed with conviction, with panache and with finality. We are happy to be involved with them, and I must praise Pamodzi Sports Marketing chairman Mike Itemuagbor, as well as Mitchell Obi and Ejiro Omonode for the roles they played in actualising this wonderful relationship.
“The NFF is delighted to be in this relationship, and we want to assure you that Nigerian Football will meet your expectations all round,” Pinnick was quoted to have said after the agreement.
With the NFF sure of N450m to be paid into its account by the alcoholic company and revenue from other sources every year, the football authority should have no excuse in drawing out well thought out plans for our national teams. The era of our football teams (male and female), not having the best of preparation ahead of major competitions should be a thing of the past. The poor showing of our national teams in major competitions in the past have been blamed largely on poor preparation.
With the latest sponsorship and subsequent revenue that will be paid into the coffers of the NFF, our national teams can now afford to train in camps abroad with top grade facilities and under conditions similar to the host nation of tournaments. With better preparation, our national teams are expected to grind out results and more importantly, win laurels in major championships.
Another snag that is expected to be corrected with improved income is the recurrent news of NFF, owing national team coaches to death.
Till they were pronounced dead, Stephen Keshi and Amodu Shuaibu among others were reportedly owed backlog of salaries by the NFF despite their selfless service to the Super Eagles. But with improved revenue and a sincere leadership, the NFF should have little problem in naming the best coaches available (irrespective of tribe or nationality) for our national teams. Additionally, the football authority should be comfortable paying the salaries and other benefits of those coaches promptly.
Also expected to be condemned to the past is the issue of constant owing players their match bonuses, allowances and ticket fees. Some of our players especially those in the senior national team have in the past turned their back on the team due to failure of the NFF to refund their ticket fees or pay their allowances and bonuses on schedule.
Many Nigerians will remember the shows of shame involving the Super Eagles players during competitions. On more than a few occasions, our senior national team players have threatened to discontinue their participation in such tournaments as the African Nations Cup and World Cup for being owed backlog of bonuses and allowances by the NFF. Even when the football authority ended up offsetting the arrears, the Super Eagles ended up exiting such championship prematurely due to the initial locker room unrest.
Also, with improved revenue such as that from the Nigeria Breweries, the NFF will have little or no need to run cap in hand to state governors for funding or logistics each time the national team is to prosecute a match, especially at the home front. The practice of turning the Super Eagles to a nomadic squad whereby the team starts a qualifier in Kano, play the next match in Port-Harcourt and its final game in Akwa Ibom should forthwith be stopped. Our national teams have been turned to a ‘cash and carry’ sort of for governors who have money to splash on the squad in addition to paying same into the private accounts of top NFF officials.
In other climes, national teams have traditional ground where they prosecute matches. A team may however be moved from such fortress for security challenges, if the facility is under repair or not approved by FIFA to host a particular match.
While Brazil plays its matches at the Maracanna Stadium, England is associated with Wembley while Germany regularly plays at Munich Stadium.
In the past, the Super Eagles made the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos its fortress but not any more especially with the decrepit state of the facility.

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button