Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
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Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
By Samuel Ifetoye
26 April 2019
In football-loving countries world over, the establishment and management of clubs is done by private entities, whose motive of ownership is good return on investment in the beautiful game.
The owners of these football clubs are often fascinated by what they hope to get from proceeds on gate takings, sales of souvenirs, TV rights, and most especially, the resolute loyalty from the clubs’ ‘die-hard’ spectators, who are actually the drive behind globalising these clubs beyond the shore of where the league is being played.
In How not to run a football club, an article in UK’s The Conversation magazine, it was noted, “clubs seeking high level and regular success must resort to buying the best talents and paying a lot of money for them.
Alternatively, a club can develop its own talents, but this too takes time and, indeed, money. But making money in football is severely restricted by the potential costs that clubs can incur.”
Another submission in The Guardian of London Magazine, How to Run a Football Club, stated, “a football club is different from any other business entity.
The stakeholders in this case are the fans. The fans’ investment is their support, while their return comes in the form of the emotional gratification all football fans desire, be it through chasing promotion, surviving relegation or a cup run. In order to guarantee this return, all a football club needs to do is exist.
“Despite this clear difference, in order to guarantee the future of all football clubs, the worlds of football and business have to work together. For too long, football clubs have not followed the basic principles of running any successful business. Beyond being successful as a club, there needs to be assistance from the Football League to guarantee the long-term survival of all clubs.”
However, reasons for setting up of clubs in Nigeria differ. While majority of the clubs are formed to create jobs for the youth, some came out of passion or love for the game.
But worse off is the fact that in the clubs run by the various governments the funds released to manage them are mismanaged and unaccounted for, and at the end of the day, the clubs are not able to fulfill their potentials, as against the money making motive by clubs in the western parts of the world
These Nigerian clubs owned by state governments don’t care about profit because they know that whatever happens the government would pay the bills. But that is not always the case as oftentimes, the governments find it difficult to fulfill their obligations to the club, hence they are unable to pay players and officials as at when due.
The free-money system has also made the football market uncompetitive as the privately owned clubs find it difficult to operate in such climates. It has been an unfair competition for the privately owned clubs. The situation, according to stakeholders, has made it difficult for the private sector to play major roles in the club football system.
Explaining the difficulties private clubs face in Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Enakhena, who runs all the sporting activities of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) Worldwide, described the league as a tough terrain in which even the richest Nigerians find difficult to operate.
“It has been very tough to be honest, but the future of the youth of Nigeria has kept us going. Recall that Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Football Club was borne out of the need to reposition the youths. This was the mission statement by our General Overseer, Dr. Daniel Olukoya and we are not looking back.
“The League Management Company operates also in a very challenging environment and are not immune from the system. They are doing their best, but we hope for a better tomorrow. Some private clubs invest so much in sports in Nigeria with the hope that they can get returns on investment as they progress but they are frustrated by the system. While private clubs see sports as the big business that it is the world over, government-owned clubs are set up primarily as public relations tools or better put as corporate social responsibilities. They’re not set up to make profit.
“Sadly, because government runs sports in Nigeria, the private clubs cannot compete with them. Government clubs have so much money to play around with and there is no accountability in most cases. Most private clubs cannot afford this luxury. Government owns the stadiums; they own the bodies that run sports in the country too.
“Again, some of the private clubs are set up for selfish reasons. For instance, some rich businessmen see running football clubs as an avenue to gain popularity among their people and they use the short-term success achieved to go into politics and once they get into political offices, the clubs die natural deaths because the politicians have no need for the clubs anymore.
“Until we put in place a structure that sees sports as a billion dollar industry, we will continue to have opportunists take advantage of these.
“The biggest challenge is the Herculean task of traveling across the length and breath of Nigeria to play games. Most times the team has to fly to the northern part of Nigeria, while the rest are done by road. The players are human and that means you have to get a fairly large squad to prosecute games.
“Let us not forget about accommodation and feeding while on the road, salaries and so many other overheads, but we are coping,” he said.
In the early 1980s, Leventis United based in Ibadan, Oyo State was one of the most successful clubs in Nigeria. The club presented a blueprint on how a successful club should be run.
Leventis United’s success within the short period of its existence galvanised other private individuals to delve into club football business. Hence, Nigeria had such clubs as Abiola Babes, Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Flash Flamingoes and Obanta United.
This was an era the country’s football was dominated by clubs owned by firms such as NEPA, Julius Berger, National Bank, ACB, First Bank, IBWA, Stationery Stores and Nigerian Railways.
Reminiscing on the team that became the toast of the country’s football followers when it breezed through the old Division Three League to Division One, spending only one season in each lower division before becoming the country’s undisputed champions in 1986 at his 70th birthday, the defunct Leventis United’s Chairman, John Mastoroudes revealed that aside from the troubles he had with some Leventis Group directors, “the NFA’s attitude to clubs was one of the problems that eventually forced Leventis United and some other clubs to close shop.
“The people at the NFA were not doing what they were supposed to do. I remember in one Challenge Cup game, the stadium had minimum of 80,000 spectators here in Lagos but when we came out, they told us there were 9,000 tickets. These kinds of things were happening all along. We were representing Nigeria in Africa and we were not given any money, we had to pay all the cost of travelling on our own.
“Chief Abiola, Chief Iwuanyanwu and I met and we agreed that we were going to disband our teams so as to shake up NFA a bit. Besides, our sponsors were not eager to pay that kind of money anymore. Abiola and Leventis kept their words but Chief Iwuanyanwu came back and said he did not own the team; that it belonged to his state, so he could not disband the club. He even requested from me that I passed some of my players to him, which I did,” Masteroudes said.
Former Nigeria Football Federation Technical Director, Chief Kashimawo Laloko believes private sponsorship of clubs will always fail in the country unless the system changed.
According to him, those that went into it in the first place knew why they did so, but regretted it afterward due to gross mismanagement of funds by those saddled with the task running the clubs.
“For the politicians, they set up clubs simply for their egos, but they could not continue after a while because the people they put in charge were not honest.
“This was what happened to clubs like the Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri in Imo State sponsored by a philanthropist, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. The individuals in charge of the club messed him up.
“They collected his money and went on to sack the whole club. Also, the money Chief Moshood Abiola spent on the defunct Abiola Babes of Abeokuta was enough to continue after his death. It was the same reason that people were messing up with the club and the players that made even a club like Leventis United to go into extinction.
“Even now, I cannot see the difference between the privately sponsored clubs and the ones sponsored by the governments. Show me also one government-owned club that has not been through this misappropriation of funds we’re talking about. And when you try to interfere, they do not like it; they quarrel with you for interfering because they use it as a tool of making money.
“Look at Shooting Stars today. I want to really commend Rangers International of Enugu. In spite of all the odds, the government was still able to manage the club. People have done things that can ruin the club but some people have refused to let it die. For instance, there was a time a sum of money was stolen in the club and up till today they cannot explain where the money went into, but the government was very careful in handling it. Today, the club is receiving some stability and if others can do that it will help.
“Look at Nasarawa United, where are they today? Ranchers Bees of old, where are they today? Government gave them money and they misappropriated the whole thing. So, when those who are ready to sponsor clubs come around to hear this, they get discouraged because they know that some people might be out to feed fat on them and they may probably withdraw.
“Frankly speaking, most of these private entities establish clubs for political reasons, but I do not see anything wrong with that if they can maintain it by a way of providing employment for the youth. But unfortunately, our people don’t understand that. Apart from poor administration, some teams are technically poor in management because they choose not to be honest in what they are doing, and so the club is being extinguished from existence. If one tries to understand what one is supposed to do, it will help the proprietor by being honest. But all these people are not honest; all they are after is that they want to make money as long as it makes them happy.
However, aside from managing these privately owned clubs well technically and otherwise, the other way to support them is by also giving them the enablement to operate by the league management body. I am sure by the time this is done the future of this country will be brighter,” Laloko said.
One-time Gombe FA chairman, Ahmed Shuaibu-Gara Gombe, opined that sponsorship of clubs in the country has to do with corporate institutions trying to identify a platform that they can use to promote their brands, adding that this has to be operated under the minimum standard of global best practices of corporate governance. “But unfortunately, the institution running our football is not operating under the minimum standard of global best practices.
“So by extension, every other institution under it suffers the same jaundice. Therefore, the club in this case will find it difficult to attract sponsorship or any form of partnership. If you look at the management structure of our league management body itself, it is faulty completely.
“From the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to League Management Company (LMC) to Nigeria National League (NNL) to Nigeria Women League (NWL) all those structures are faulty. No corporate organisation will like to identify with such kind of epileptic structures.
“The other factor why private sponsorship of clubs is failing in Nigeria is corruption, which has been the order of the day in the country. No serious individual trying to float a club will like to identify with an institution that promotes corruption in a very glaring manner like what we see today in our football because they have names to protect.
“Then the third reason is transparency, which is lacking in the management of football clubs in the country. Many of these clubs’ administrators just collect money from their sponsors yearly knowing they would not be called to account for such monies.
“This is because some of the club administrators help their governors during elections and they are rewarded for their loyalty. Things would change when clubs are tasked to fund their activities through the revenue they generate from their activities.
“And to get to that level, we need to bring down the structures of the various leagues and rebuild them to enable them to become private organisations like the Rotary Clubs. Have you ever heard of anybody questioning the way the Rotary Club is run? Ownership of private football clubs in Nigeria is the most difficult thing to do because those managing football don’t want private clubs to exist because of their pecuniary interest.”
The former Gombe FA chairman also believes the laws governing Nigerian football are part of the problems of the country’s club football.
“It is only in Nigeria that government establishes the football statute through NFF Act of 2004. It is wrong.
“FIFA in Zurich is a private organisation, like an NGO. But in Nigeria, it was an act of parliament that established football, which kept it under public control. And so we are just deceiving ourselves that government cannot have a say in the running of our football in this country.
“There is no difference between the Nigeria Ports Authority, the Nigeria Railway Corporation and the NFF.”
Positing that private clubs cannot survive under the current administrative structure, former FIFA instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde said the country was not yet ready to embrace professionalism in its football. He insists there are no football clubs yet in the country. To him, all the clubs in existence are mere parastatals, while those run by individuals are mere personal ventures.
“In Nigeria, we do not have one football club by FIFA regulations. FIFA regulation says that the governing body of any football club must be democratically elected. But among the clubs in the country, none conducted elections into their boards; be it Rangers of Enugu, Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Kano Pillars and the rest of them. That is the more reason why our club football is suffering because ‘novices’ are the ones running the Nigeria Professional Football League with little or no knowledge of club administration.
“In 1984 or thereabout, I was in South Korea as part of FIFA’s delegation to that country. It was the period they were about to commence professional football league. In the conditions laid down for the prospective clubs, only three of them qualified and that was how the professional league got off with just three clubs.
“Here in the country, we do not have a standard. There are a lot of things wrong with our club football. Most of the problems are administrative, not technical. Clubs like Ifeanyi Ubah, MFM and ABS are more or less private endeavours because they do not have boards in place. For them to be known as clubs, they must have boards based on FIFA’s regulation like the ones we have in Europe and the rest of them,” he said.
According to the former coach of the Super Eagles, as long as the running of clubs is left in the hands of party loyalists and not technocrats, there would continue to be a dip in the country’s club football.
“By FIFA’s regulation, we don’t have one football club in the country. By Article 19 of the world governing body’s status, any football body, which also includes club sides, must have a democratically elected board. But what we have here are mere parastatals of states’ government loyalists, who lack the knowledge of clubs football administration,” he stated.
https://guardian.ng/sport/why-private-s ... n-nigeria/
By Samuel Ifetoye
26 April 2019
In football-loving countries world over, the establishment and management of clubs is done by private entities, whose motive of ownership is good return on investment in the beautiful game.
The owners of these football clubs are often fascinated by what they hope to get from proceeds on gate takings, sales of souvenirs, TV rights, and most especially, the resolute loyalty from the clubs’ ‘die-hard’ spectators, who are actually the drive behind globalising these clubs beyond the shore of where the league is being played.
In How not to run a football club, an article in UK’s The Conversation magazine, it was noted, “clubs seeking high level and regular success must resort to buying the best talents and paying a lot of money for them.
Alternatively, a club can develop its own talents, but this too takes time and, indeed, money. But making money in football is severely restricted by the potential costs that clubs can incur.”
Another submission in The Guardian of London Magazine, How to Run a Football Club, stated, “a football club is different from any other business entity.
The stakeholders in this case are the fans. The fans’ investment is their support, while their return comes in the form of the emotional gratification all football fans desire, be it through chasing promotion, surviving relegation or a cup run. In order to guarantee this return, all a football club needs to do is exist.
“Despite this clear difference, in order to guarantee the future of all football clubs, the worlds of football and business have to work together. For too long, football clubs have not followed the basic principles of running any successful business. Beyond being successful as a club, there needs to be assistance from the Football League to guarantee the long-term survival of all clubs.”
However, reasons for setting up of clubs in Nigeria differ. While majority of the clubs are formed to create jobs for the youth, some came out of passion or love for the game.
But worse off is the fact that in the clubs run by the various governments the funds released to manage them are mismanaged and unaccounted for, and at the end of the day, the clubs are not able to fulfill their potentials, as against the money making motive by clubs in the western parts of the world
These Nigerian clubs owned by state governments don’t care about profit because they know that whatever happens the government would pay the bills. But that is not always the case as oftentimes, the governments find it difficult to fulfill their obligations to the club, hence they are unable to pay players and officials as at when due.
The free-money system has also made the football market uncompetitive as the privately owned clubs find it difficult to operate in such climates. It has been an unfair competition for the privately owned clubs. The situation, according to stakeholders, has made it difficult for the private sector to play major roles in the club football system.
Explaining the difficulties private clubs face in Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Enakhena, who runs all the sporting activities of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) Worldwide, described the league as a tough terrain in which even the richest Nigerians find difficult to operate.
“It has been very tough to be honest, but the future of the youth of Nigeria has kept us going. Recall that Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Football Club was borne out of the need to reposition the youths. This was the mission statement by our General Overseer, Dr. Daniel Olukoya and we are not looking back.
“The League Management Company operates also in a very challenging environment and are not immune from the system. They are doing their best, but we hope for a better tomorrow. Some private clubs invest so much in sports in Nigeria with the hope that they can get returns on investment as they progress but they are frustrated by the system. While private clubs see sports as the big business that it is the world over, government-owned clubs are set up primarily as public relations tools or better put as corporate social responsibilities. They’re not set up to make profit.
“Sadly, because government runs sports in Nigeria, the private clubs cannot compete with them. Government clubs have so much money to play around with and there is no accountability in most cases. Most private clubs cannot afford this luxury. Government owns the stadiums; they own the bodies that run sports in the country too.
“Again, some of the private clubs are set up for selfish reasons. For instance, some rich businessmen see running football clubs as an avenue to gain popularity among their people and they use the short-term success achieved to go into politics and once they get into political offices, the clubs die natural deaths because the politicians have no need for the clubs anymore.
“Until we put in place a structure that sees sports as a billion dollar industry, we will continue to have opportunists take advantage of these.
“The biggest challenge is the Herculean task of traveling across the length and breath of Nigeria to play games. Most times the team has to fly to the northern part of Nigeria, while the rest are done by road. The players are human and that means you have to get a fairly large squad to prosecute games.
“Let us not forget about accommodation and feeding while on the road, salaries and so many other overheads, but we are coping,” he said.
In the early 1980s, Leventis United based in Ibadan, Oyo State was one of the most successful clubs in Nigeria. The club presented a blueprint on how a successful club should be run.
Leventis United’s success within the short period of its existence galvanised other private individuals to delve into club football business. Hence, Nigeria had such clubs as Abiola Babes, Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Flash Flamingoes and Obanta United.
This was an era the country’s football was dominated by clubs owned by firms such as NEPA, Julius Berger, National Bank, ACB, First Bank, IBWA, Stationery Stores and Nigerian Railways.
Reminiscing on the team that became the toast of the country’s football followers when it breezed through the old Division Three League to Division One, spending only one season in each lower division before becoming the country’s undisputed champions in 1986 at his 70th birthday, the defunct Leventis United’s Chairman, John Mastoroudes revealed that aside from the troubles he had with some Leventis Group directors, “the NFA’s attitude to clubs was one of the problems that eventually forced Leventis United and some other clubs to close shop.
“The people at the NFA were not doing what they were supposed to do. I remember in one Challenge Cup game, the stadium had minimum of 80,000 spectators here in Lagos but when we came out, they told us there were 9,000 tickets. These kinds of things were happening all along. We were representing Nigeria in Africa and we were not given any money, we had to pay all the cost of travelling on our own.
“Chief Abiola, Chief Iwuanyanwu and I met and we agreed that we were going to disband our teams so as to shake up NFA a bit. Besides, our sponsors were not eager to pay that kind of money anymore. Abiola and Leventis kept their words but Chief Iwuanyanwu came back and said he did not own the team; that it belonged to his state, so he could not disband the club. He even requested from me that I passed some of my players to him, which I did,” Masteroudes said.
Former Nigeria Football Federation Technical Director, Chief Kashimawo Laloko believes private sponsorship of clubs will always fail in the country unless the system changed.
According to him, those that went into it in the first place knew why they did so, but regretted it afterward due to gross mismanagement of funds by those saddled with the task running the clubs.
“For the politicians, they set up clubs simply for their egos, but they could not continue after a while because the people they put in charge were not honest.
“This was what happened to clubs like the Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri in Imo State sponsored by a philanthropist, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. The individuals in charge of the club messed him up.
“They collected his money and went on to sack the whole club. Also, the money Chief Moshood Abiola spent on the defunct Abiola Babes of Abeokuta was enough to continue after his death. It was the same reason that people were messing up with the club and the players that made even a club like Leventis United to go into extinction.
“Even now, I cannot see the difference between the privately sponsored clubs and the ones sponsored by the governments. Show me also one government-owned club that has not been through this misappropriation of funds we’re talking about. And when you try to interfere, they do not like it; they quarrel with you for interfering because they use it as a tool of making money.
“Look at Shooting Stars today. I want to really commend Rangers International of Enugu. In spite of all the odds, the government was still able to manage the club. People have done things that can ruin the club but some people have refused to let it die. For instance, there was a time a sum of money was stolen in the club and up till today they cannot explain where the money went into, but the government was very careful in handling it. Today, the club is receiving some stability and if others can do that it will help.
“Look at Nasarawa United, where are they today? Ranchers Bees of old, where are they today? Government gave them money and they misappropriated the whole thing. So, when those who are ready to sponsor clubs come around to hear this, they get discouraged because they know that some people might be out to feed fat on them and they may probably withdraw.
“Frankly speaking, most of these private entities establish clubs for political reasons, but I do not see anything wrong with that if they can maintain it by a way of providing employment for the youth. But unfortunately, our people don’t understand that. Apart from poor administration, some teams are technically poor in management because they choose not to be honest in what they are doing, and so the club is being extinguished from existence. If one tries to understand what one is supposed to do, it will help the proprietor by being honest. But all these people are not honest; all they are after is that they want to make money as long as it makes them happy.
However, aside from managing these privately owned clubs well technically and otherwise, the other way to support them is by also giving them the enablement to operate by the league management body. I am sure by the time this is done the future of this country will be brighter,” Laloko said.
One-time Gombe FA chairman, Ahmed Shuaibu-Gara Gombe, opined that sponsorship of clubs in the country has to do with corporate institutions trying to identify a platform that they can use to promote their brands, adding that this has to be operated under the minimum standard of global best practices of corporate governance. “But unfortunately, the institution running our football is not operating under the minimum standard of global best practices.
“So by extension, every other institution under it suffers the same jaundice. Therefore, the club in this case will find it difficult to attract sponsorship or any form of partnership. If you look at the management structure of our league management body itself, it is faulty completely.
“From the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to League Management Company (LMC) to Nigeria National League (NNL) to Nigeria Women League (NWL) all those structures are faulty. No corporate organisation will like to identify with such kind of epileptic structures.
“The other factor why private sponsorship of clubs is failing in Nigeria is corruption, which has been the order of the day in the country. No serious individual trying to float a club will like to identify with an institution that promotes corruption in a very glaring manner like what we see today in our football because they have names to protect.
“Then the third reason is transparency, which is lacking in the management of football clubs in the country. Many of these clubs’ administrators just collect money from their sponsors yearly knowing they would not be called to account for such monies.
“This is because some of the club administrators help their governors during elections and they are rewarded for their loyalty. Things would change when clubs are tasked to fund their activities through the revenue they generate from their activities.
“And to get to that level, we need to bring down the structures of the various leagues and rebuild them to enable them to become private organisations like the Rotary Clubs. Have you ever heard of anybody questioning the way the Rotary Club is run? Ownership of private football clubs in Nigeria is the most difficult thing to do because those managing football don’t want private clubs to exist because of their pecuniary interest.”
The former Gombe FA chairman also believes the laws governing Nigerian football are part of the problems of the country’s club football.
“It is only in Nigeria that government establishes the football statute through NFF Act of 2004. It is wrong.
“FIFA in Zurich is a private organisation, like an NGO. But in Nigeria, it was an act of parliament that established football, which kept it under public control. And so we are just deceiving ourselves that government cannot have a say in the running of our football in this country.
“There is no difference between the Nigeria Ports Authority, the Nigeria Railway Corporation and the NFF.”
Positing that private clubs cannot survive under the current administrative structure, former FIFA instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde said the country was not yet ready to embrace professionalism in its football. He insists there are no football clubs yet in the country. To him, all the clubs in existence are mere parastatals, while those run by individuals are mere personal ventures.
“In Nigeria, we do not have one football club by FIFA regulations. FIFA regulation says that the governing body of any football club must be democratically elected. But among the clubs in the country, none conducted elections into their boards; be it Rangers of Enugu, Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Kano Pillars and the rest of them. That is the more reason why our club football is suffering because ‘novices’ are the ones running the Nigeria Professional Football League with little or no knowledge of club administration.
“In 1984 or thereabout, I was in South Korea as part of FIFA’s delegation to that country. It was the period they were about to commence professional football league. In the conditions laid down for the prospective clubs, only three of them qualified and that was how the professional league got off with just three clubs.
“Here in the country, we do not have a standard. There are a lot of things wrong with our club football. Most of the problems are administrative, not technical. Clubs like Ifeanyi Ubah, MFM and ABS are more or less private endeavours because they do not have boards in place. For them to be known as clubs, they must have boards based on FIFA’s regulation like the ones we have in Europe and the rest of them,” he said.
According to the former coach of the Super Eagles, as long as the running of clubs is left in the hands of party loyalists and not technocrats, there would continue to be a dip in the country’s club football.
“By FIFA’s regulation, we don’t have one football club in the country. By Article 19 of the world governing body’s status, any football body, which also includes club sides, must have a democratically elected board. But what we have here are mere parastatals of states’ government loyalists, who lack the knowledge of clubs football administration,” he stated.
https://guardian.ng/sport/why-private-s ... n-nigeria/
Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Nigeria itself is at a low and football cant be an exception.
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EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA
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Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Again! Get govt out of all league teams if success is a goal. Only Lagos, Rivers and Delta are solvent and can pay salaries, thebrest cant even pay janitors on a regular basis and can't manage anything. As Nigerians, management in govt is not our thing. Let 10 billionaires take over 10 teams and walk state govt out.
Dangote can take over Kano pillars, otedola at shooting, innoson at Eyimba etc, that's the only way. If you leave it to state govt it'll never improve.
Dangote can take over Kano pillars, otedola at shooting, innoson at Eyimba etc, that's the only way. If you leave it to state govt it'll never improve.
OCCUPY NFF!!
Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
All of this is wishful thinking bros, very far from the reality on the ground that running a professional club in the country isn't profitable unless you're doing it for the long term. State run clubs might not be the best option there, but barring them doesn't address the real issue and if the private clubs can't measure up to their level they're no better.EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:49 am Again! Get govt out of all league teams if success is a goal. Only Lagos, Rivers and Delta are solvent and can pay salaries, thebrest cant even pay janitors on a regular basis and can't manage anything. As Nigerians, management in govt is not our thing. Let 10 billionaires take over 10 teams and walk state govt out.
Dangote can take over Kano pillars, otedola at shooting, innoson at Eyimba etc, that's the only way. If you leave it to state govt it'll never improve.
Sha if its a private league you want there's the TCC League who aren't doing too bad tbh, on their 2nd edition now, they post highlights of all their games do pretty well on the branding side but the level of football isn't that high though.
Okechukwu Olisa (17) looks to be a prospect playing in this league, but is also 3rd/4th choice for the Remo Stars 1st team
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EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA
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Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Sunset wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 4:47 amAll of this is wishful thinking bros, very far from the reality on the ground that running a professional club in the country isn't profitable unless you're doing it for the long term. State run clubs might not be the best option there, but barring them doesn't address the real issue and if the private clubs can't measure up to their level they're no better.EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:49 am Again! Get govt out of all league teams if success is a goal. Only Lagos, Rivers and Delta are solvent and can pay salaries, thebrest cant even pay janitors on a regular basis and can't manage anything. As Nigerians, management in govt is not our thing. Let 10 billionaires take over 10 teams and walk state govt out.
Dangote can take over Kano pillars, otedola at shooting, innoson at Eyimba etc, that's the only way. If you leave it to state govt it'll never improve.
Sha if its a private league you want there's the TCC League who aren't doing too bad tbh, on their 2nd edition now, they post highlights of all their games do pretty well on the branding side but the level of football isn't that high though.
Okechukwu Olisa (17) looks to be a prospect playing in this league, but is also 3rd/4th choice for the Remo Stars 1st team
Nice.
That's the thing about Nigeria. As bad as it seems on the national level you find people that are trying to do things the right way but are struggling with it due to institutional barriers.
OCCUPY NFF!!
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YemiBrazil
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Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
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Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Oscar
This is not an excuse. In the same Nigeria, we have a relatively successful private airline industry, private music industry, private movie industry, private telecommunications industry. Those are not foreign.
Private football academies, of all kinds and levels, are flourishing in the same Nigeria.
The issue is that the state should be restricted to regulation and should not get involved in direct provision of service. Our football today is synonymous with what NITEL was a few years ago. It was a time we were told that not every one should own a phone (LOL,
Fed Commissioner now Senator David Mark, excuse me!!!) and only the rich can and should own a telephone.... Now in 2022, what happened? The reality is that where there is a WILL, change will occur. Football is not above change.
Last edited by Enugu II on Tue May 03, 2022 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The difficulties of statistical thinking describes a puzzling limitation of our mind: our excessive confidence in what we believe we know, and our apparent inability to acknowledge the full extent of our ignorance and the uncertainty of the world we live in. We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events -- Daniel Kahneman (2011), Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics
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TonyTheTigerKiller
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Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
If you were Dangote, would you invest in a club when you know there would be absolutely no return on your investment? No businessman driven by profit would ever contemplate doing thatEMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:49 am Again! Get govt out of all league teams if success is a goal. Only Lagos, Rivers and Delta are solvent and can pay salaries, thebrest cant even pay janitors on a regular basis and can't manage anything. As Nigerians, management in govt is not our thing. Let 10 billionaires take over 10 teams and walk state govt out.
Dangote can take over Kano pillars, otedola at shooting, innoson at Eyimba etc, that's the only way. If you leave it to state govt it'll never improve.
Cheers.
Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
TonyTheTigerKiller wrote: ↑Tue May 03, 2022 3:46 pmIf you were Dangote, would you invest in a club when you know there would be absolutely no return on your investment? No businessman driven by profit would ever contemplate doing thatEMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:49 am Again! Get govt out of all league teams if success is a goal. Only Lagos, Rivers and Delta are solvent and can pay salaries, thebrest cant even pay janitors on a regular basis and can't manage anything. As Nigerians, management in govt is not our thing. Let 10 billionaires take over 10 teams and walk state govt out.
Dangote can take over Kano pillars, otedola at shooting, innoson at Eyimba etc, that's the only way. If you leave it to state govt it'll never improve.
Cheers.
They wouldn't be as rich as they are if they did. It's only the ones that are truly passionate about football who would be willing take the financial losses especially at the beginning with the hope that they will be profitable in the future. Its a long game and if that genuine passion isn't there, it's most likely for political gain & won't last a decade.
Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Maybe people need to find out why Leventis, ACB, BON, First Bank, BCC, Julius Berger, Abiola Babes FC, Flash Flamengoes, Stationary Stores, Iwuanyawun, Jasper, Udoji, Premier Breweries, JIB Rocks, Nasco Jets, IBWA, Ranchers Bees, NNB FC, Obanta FC, Femo Scorpion FC, i can keep on......, maybe we need to find out why they all went under first, before demanding that government should hands off football.
Strangely enough, these all committed the same nonsense we accuse govt clubs of doing, but while the govt clubs can thrive because they can offer the service as social investment to the community, those private ones cannot because they were bleeding. I love the case of Abiola, he kept pointing fingers at NFF, but he had his junior brother or was it his senior brother running the club, that one used the club to enjoy himself like no one sent him.
Iwuanyawun was not bothered about profitability, all he cared about was the Presidential elections he wanted to contest back in the day. There was no model , nada, just a club that was drinking his money. Udoji came making all the right noises, he flaunted the model and boasted of sponsors, what someone probably failed to mention to him was the economic condition of the country and the need for him to be consistent.
Jasper another one out of the blues, he even built the Rojenny sports center, but once again, they probably thought you make money from the gate takings , fa fa foul. It is from TV and Sponsorship.
Leventis should still be in business, but then corruption in high places made the group to ask themselves , why exactly they founded the company, it was to trade and make money and not to play football.
Like everything that is Nigeria, there is whole mindset that needs to change about football ownership be it private or state owned, the first issue to address is that big elephant in the room, putting square pegs in round holes.
I see Vandressers and Remo Stars trying to do the right things, i wont be over the moon yet, because I have seen Udoji, I have seen Leventis, I have seen Flash, heck of recent we have had Giwa FC and Ifeanyi Uba boys......I will review their score cards after 10 years. I love Vandresser and Remo stars, but like most privately owned companies, it is all about one man with vision and as soon he goes away or loses interest, the whole place dries up after him, just like Stationary Stores dried up after Chief Adebajo.
Strangely enough, these all committed the same nonsense we accuse govt clubs of doing, but while the govt clubs can thrive because they can offer the service as social investment to the community, those private ones cannot because they were bleeding. I love the case of Abiola, he kept pointing fingers at NFF, but he had his junior brother or was it his senior brother running the club, that one used the club to enjoy himself like no one sent him.
Iwuanyawun was not bothered about profitability, all he cared about was the Presidential elections he wanted to contest back in the day. There was no model , nada, just a club that was drinking his money. Udoji came making all the right noises, he flaunted the model and boasted of sponsors, what someone probably failed to mention to him was the economic condition of the country and the need for him to be consistent.
Jasper another one out of the blues, he even built the Rojenny sports center, but once again, they probably thought you make money from the gate takings , fa fa foul. It is from TV and Sponsorship.
Leventis should still be in business, but then corruption in high places made the group to ask themselves , why exactly they founded the company, it was to trade and make money and not to play football.
Like everything that is Nigeria, there is whole mindset that needs to change about football ownership be it private or state owned, the first issue to address is that big elephant in the room, putting square pegs in round holes.
I see Vandressers and Remo Stars trying to do the right things, i wont be over the moon yet, because I have seen Udoji, I have seen Leventis, I have seen Flash, heck of recent we have had Giwa FC and Ifeanyi Uba boys......I will review their score cards after 10 years. I love Vandresser and Remo stars, but like most privately owned companies, it is all about one man with vision and as soon he goes away or loses interest, the whole place dries up after him, just like Stationary Stores dried up after Chief Adebajo.
"There is big pressure at this club as you cannot be like the manager at Arsenal and ask for five years to try and to win one trophy" - Jose Mourinho
.... I believe in God. I try to be a good man so He can have a bit of time to give me a hand when I need it - Jose Mourinho
.... I believe in God. I try to be a good man so He can have a bit of time to give me a hand when I need it - Jose Mourinho
Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Love this history lessonoloye wrote: ↑Tue May 03, 2022 6:51 pm Maybe people need to find out why Leventis, ACB, BON, First Bank, BCC, Julius Berger, Abiola Babes FC, Flash Flamengoes, Stationary Stores, Iwuanyawun, Jasper, Udoji, Premier Breweries, JIB Rocks, Nasco Jets, IBWA, Ranchers Bees, NNB FC, Obanta FC, Femo Scorpion FC, i can keep on......, maybe we need to find out why they all went under first, before demanding that government should hands off football.
Strangely enough, these all committed the same nonsense we accuse govt clubs of doing, but while the govt clubs can thrive because they can offer the service as social investment to the community, those private ones cannot because they were bleeding. I love the case of Abiola, he kept pointing fingers at NFF, but he had his junior brother or was it his senior brother running the club, that one used the club to enjoy himself like no one sent him.
Iwuanyawun was not bothered about profitability, all he cared about was the Presidential elections he wanted to contest back in the day. There was no model , nada, just a club that was drinking his money. Udoji came making all the right noises, he flaunted the model and boasted of sponsors, what someone probably failed to mention to him was the economic condition of the country and the need for him to be consistent.
Jasper another one out of the blues, he even built the Rojenny sports center, but once again, they probably thought you make money from the gate takings , fa fa foul. It is from TV and Sponsorship.
Leventis should still be in business, but then corruption in high places made the group to ask themselves , why exactly they founded the company, it was to trade and make money and not to play football.
Like everything that is Nigeria, there is whole mindset that needs to change about football ownership be it private or state owned, the first issue to address is that big elephant in the room, putting square pegs in round holes.
I see Vandressers and Remo Stars trying to do the right things, i wont be over the moon yet, because I have seen Udoji, I have seen Leventis, I have seen Flash, heck of recent we have had Giwa FC and Ifeanyi Uba boys......I will review their score cards after 10 years. I love Vandresser and Remo stars, but like most privately owned companies, it is all about one man with vision and as soon he goes away or loses interest, the whole place dries up after him, just like Stationary Stores dried up after Chief Adebajo.
as it was way before my time and its a lot of the same issues plaguing the local scene today with the cases of Ifeanyi Ubah FC and Giwa FC but just by the club names it was clear they were only fuelled by political ambitions and would only serve a political purpose. FCIU went from paying the highest salaries in the league at the start to having a squad that was a majority of young kid who just wanted to play football despite being owedI'm surprised you know of Vandrezzer but then again that's a testament to their marketing strategy which is #1 in the country, i'm still a bit sceptical about the project as a whole but they're on the right track in terms of how a football team should be run, its just the actual level of football they need to raise. They have set up an academy now so fingers crossed.
I'm most excited about Remo because they have made it past that 10 year threshold that most private clubs & private-political clubs don't usually survive in most cases and it hasn't been easy for them using a majority of academy products getting relegated in their 2 seasons in the NPFL. Even their owner Soname is clearly passionate about football as he also owns Portuguese club Feirense that their best talents would go to. If you even look at the topgoalscorers in the NPFL right now, of the top 5 three of them are either former or current players of Remo: Ishaq Rafiu, Victor Mbaoma and Andy Okpe
I've been documenting their whole project here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=306886
Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
Interesting points from the Remo Stars owner, and its understandable how he got to that conclusion, but if your sole purpose as a football institution is simply to produce players that will be sold abroad you've already constructed your own glass ceiling there. This doesn't show in how the first team has been handled looking at last season and how they aren't afraid to recruit experienced legs from other NPFL clubs to balance them out.
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TonyTheTigerKiller
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Re: Why private sponsorship of football clubs is failing in Nigeria
I have a question for people knowledgeable about landscaping and grounds maintenance. How much of a challenge is it to provide a decent surface to play football on in Nigeria? Not even our most upscale stadiums have decent playing surfaces
Cheers.
Cheers.