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What do we really want for our football: National pride or thriving industry?
Nigerian football urgently needs a grand vision. There is an obvious lack of clarity about the direction we should take the game that has resulted in recurring systemic dysfunctions for decades.
The government’s FIFA-supported plan to sanitise our football – a move that included the president flushing out the entire Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board following the recent unprecedented failures of our national teams – presents an excellent opportunity to put things right.
However, current sound bites from those in authority suggest that we may once again be treading the well-worn path that has been the source of our stagnation.
Domestic or International Football industry can be classified into two broad segments, namely: domestic (our local leagues and cup competitions to which you may add continental and FIFA club games), and international (the national teams).
Leading football countries invest significantly more in the former because it is socio-culturally more impactful and generates disproportionately more commerce than international football.
For instance, in England and Spain, domestic football dominates. Their premier leagues generate 13 times the revenues of their FAs which manage the national teams and cup competitions.
What our government wants In demanding the comprehensive revamp of our football president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s primary concern seemed to be about how the national teams can redeem our collective pride by qualifying for, and excelling at, international events.
That position for me does not align much with the president’s bullish plans to deliver a one trillion-dollar economy by 2030.
Unlike our domestic competitions that happen weekly almost the whole year round, the AFCON and the World Cups are seasonal events coming two and four years apart respectively.
As a country, we have the very urgent need to lift 140m people out of extreme poverty. Our priority should be to sustainably create wealth not seek momentary pleasures.
The National Sports Commission (NSC) is targeting a sports contribution of 3% to GDP. That theoretically would be a $30b industry should the president attain his $1tn GDP target.
The NSC’s target is not unrealistic, but to achieve it, focus must shift to investing in our domestic competitions instead.
The numbers In 2025, all our national teams: male and female, senior and juniors, played a combined total of about 39 competitive games!
NPFL clubs on the contrary played about 450 league and cup games! The second-tier Nigeria National League (NNL) saw 38 clubs play 461 matches, while over 383 clubs in the third-tier Nationwide League One (NLO) battled well over 1,500 times!
With every match driving some measure of economic activity, it becomes clearer what a nation desperate to provide quality opportunities for its people should focus on. The opportunity If we could make our local leagues and clubs as attractive to Nigerians as they were in the 70s and 80s, we would be unleashing an unrivaled economic force that will completely dwarf the cultural and commercial powers of our national teams.
A thriving domestic sports industry would lead to major PPP infrastructure development, more and better quality jobs, increased tourism, enhanced healthcare, unparalleled talent development, and so much more.
In the world’s leading sports economy, the USA, 85% to 95% of revenues are derived from domestic sports. The NBA, for instance, generates 260 times the revenues of the men’s national basketball team! Some sports like American football and baseball are fully local.
What we must change The problem with our sports is that we are investing 85%-95% of our resources on national teams that ideally should account for no more than 10% of the sports economy.
In 2024 alone, the federal government doled out N12b-N17b to the NFF to solve issues around the national teams, but where has there been any such interventions for the NPFL?
Last year, the federal government and some Nigerian corporations showered the Super Falcons with over N6b in gifts for winning the WAFCON, yet the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), where 16 of the 24 victorious Falcons launched their careers, is virtually on life support.
I accept that the government cannot do everything for sports, but it is important to have a clear understanding of the challenge we face, and to create the right environment for public and private sector partnerships to drive industry.
Key fundamentals Why should we believe that if we take the plunge and invest in local sports products they can become globally competitive?
Here are five key considerations:
1) LARGE YOUTH POPULATION: With a population of 245m people, 51% of whom are between the ages of 10 and 39, we have a solid foundation to build on.
2) DECENT ECONOMY: $290.79b in 2025 and currently moving northward. There is enough capital to turn local sports into gold.
3) CONTINENTAL INFLUENCE: our movies, music, comedy and fashion have proven that when local entertainment products succeed with Nigerians, Africa wants it. This should potentially scale our continental audience up to 300m-400m fans.
4) GLOBAL PENETRATION: Nigerians have spread overseas in great numbers, marrying and integrating into other cultures thus deepening and widening Nigeria’s cultural penetration worldwide.
5) PEDIGREE: Even without great systems we have consistently produced world-class talents, imagine what would happen if we truly invest in excellent systems?
The challenge Ahead of the 2027 elections I suspect that the government would lean more to populist ideas favouring the national teams, but they must be mindful of what the real long-term solution is.
Disruptive ideas Here are six unorthodox ideas that can immediately help to bounce up local industry. They may not be popular but they will be highly effective.
1) INDUSTRY AUDIT: This is where it should all start. There is no bigger need than this. Engage one or more of the Big Four (PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young) to do a comprehensive audit of the local sports industry. It will cost a mountain, but without credible information we will not gain the trust of high-value local and international investors.
2) HYBRID EAGLES: No one thought locally-based players were any good in 2013 until the late Stephen Keshi proved them wrong. If the primary objective is to build a vibrant football economy, then for the next 10 years we need to adopt a hybrid approach to the Super Eagles and other national teams. This means every player selection must comprise 50% foreign-based players and 50% NPFL players. This will not only encourage our best young players to launch their careers at home, it will force tens of millions of Nigerian football fans to follow the NPFL and our clubs. You need this to attract multi-million-dollar TV deals as well as sponsorships and partnerships. South Africa and Egypt – the two richest leagues in Africa – are doing just fine with hybrid teams.
3) NTA NPFL/NWFL SUPPORT: Most Nigerians cannot afford pay-TV. Follow the South Africa example. Government-funded SABC gets a sub-licencing deal to broadcast PSL games from the official broadcaster SuperSport. Fund NTA to do the same with NPFL games.
4) ALL-LOCAL JUNIOR TEAMS – Age-grade football is developmental. It is silly to want to win them at all costs. For the U20 and U17 teams, select players exclusively from junior teams of NPFL clubs. This will help to solidify the league. Why do we buy expensive flight tickets and pay dollarised bonuses to junior national team players based overseas?!
5) BRING IN HIGHLY-QUALIFIED YOUNG MANAGERS – We need fresh young faces to front our football. Brilliant passionate executives in their 20s and 30s that can be plucked from leading corporate organisations. They will be best placed to connect with our large youth population while securing the game’s future. Recycling the same old faces under the guise of experience is a guarantee that not much will change.
6) BAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS FROM PROMOTING FOREIGN FOOTBALL – It sends a poor message to our young that we do not value our own when they see high-ranking government officials publicly supporting foreign clubs rather than promoting our domestic football.
In summary, sports is big business globally. With the global industry expected to maintain its growth for the foreseeable future, investors are crossing countries, continents and cultures to secure the best deals. Nigeria needs to wake up and grow its local industry to attract these investors.
We can achieve success on all fronts but our key focus must be prioritising domestic sports.
Beyond guaranteeing a solid sports economy, it would ensure the long-term success of our national teams that we can be truly proud of.
This will require disruptive thinking and the boldness to walk new paths. However, if we are clear about the direction we should go 50% of the journey would already be covered.
BY ORUFUO EZAGA
The post What do we really want for our football: National pride or thriving industry? first appeared on Score Nigeria.