Nigerian Football Federation hails Nike renewal

The Nigerian Football Federation has extended and enhanced its partnership with US sportswear company Nike.

The new four-year deal will run through to the 2022 Fifa World Cup and includes an automatic renewal clause to take the relationship through to the 2026 edition of the national team tournament.

NFF president Amaju Melvin Pinnick said the federation was able to negotiate in a position of strength, a different situation from when it first partnered with Nike in 2015.

“We need to know where we are coming from to be able to appreciate where we are now,” Pinnick said. “A few months after we came on board for our first term in office, I was told that we needed to buy jerseys for the national team to play a football match. That was how bad it was, because the kit sponsor at that time terminated the contract.

“So, I made contacts with some highly-connected persons and worked hard to convince Nike to come on board. We were coming from a weak position but they made the agreement flexible for us. Today, we are happy we teamed up with Nike because after we qualified and participated at the Fifa World Cup in Russia, the company was the one chasing us for a new improved contract.”

Chairman of the NFF marketing, sponsorship and TV rights committee, Mallam Shehu Dikko, added: “We are very happy because this new agreement comes with good money on annual basis, more supplies, improved qualification bonus for our teams, door-to-door delivery of kits, royalty for the NFF on jerseys sold and it has now been expanded to include our women’s national teams.

“We have a window for renewal of this contract in 2023 but most terms of the agreement as presently constituted would improve should the Super Eagles make a huge impact at the 2022 Fifa World Cup.”