…Adidas To Pay Nigeria $4.5m Yearly, As Against Nike’s 500,000 Dollars
The crisis rocking Nigeria’s football came to a climax on Thursday with the President of Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Gusau and General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi resigning from office.
VDCInsights can also confirm authoritatively that the entire board has also thrown in the towel making way for a fresh start in football administration in the country.
Before coming out to address the media, Gusau had met with his management staff where he broke the news to them leaving some of his very close allies in tears .
At a world press conference in Abuja, Gusau, flanked by some FA Chairmen, announced his resignation and also advised his fellow board members to follow his footsteps.
The crisis that finally swallowed Gusau and the board started with the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 mundial, and worsened by the Super Falcons also failing to qualify for next year’s women’s world cup in Brazil, which was the first time since the maiden edition in 1991, that Nigeria will not be featuring.
Gusau, who cut the picture of a helpless man, one who has explored all possible escape routes without luck, said it was time to move on for pastures new, after having the privilege of serving the country at the highest level of football, adding that love for country was behind his sudden resignation.
Despite the emotional setting it was an opportunity for the outgoing president to reel out his achievements in office in terms of infrastructure, human capacity development, and achievements on the field of play.
He cited the new hostel building that would serve as camp site for the national team and save the Federation money, the number of coaching courses his board has organised for Nigerian coaches to upgrade themselves, and that of referees, which has occasioned a Nigerian being part of the semi final officials at the just concluded WAFCON as some of their achievements.
Gusau also pointed out results on the field of play to include a silver medal at the AFCON in Cote D’Ivoire and bronze in Morocco, which he said “many people celebrated as if we won gold.I have never seen anything like that before, nobody who met me underplayed the importance of the bronze medal’ He also added the victory of the Super Falcons and the unprecedented reward from the President.
He noted that “hiring Eric Chelle is a positive development because after failing to qualify for the world cup, he has done well to the appreciation of Nigerians, even though many were skeptical after failing to qualify for the mundial.’
“Nigerians can trust Chelle to transform our football with time, though Nigerians had always clamoured for a world class coach, which we could not afford due to lack of funds, but assured that the new contract with Adidas can open the gate way to hiring a world class coach, if the need arises going forward.”
Gusau revealed that the NFF has signed a new mouth-watering contract with Adidas valued at 4.5m dollars in cash and 4m worth of kits annually which he said is the best in Africa, and has the potential to enable the NFF undertake serious projects.
The outgone president also revealed that the former board led by Amaju Pinnick tied the country to an 11 year contract with Nike valued at just 500, 000 dollars cash and 1m dollars worth of kit annually. He pointed out that it was one of the worst contracts the Federation had as countries with less visibility in Africa had better contract deals with Nike than Nigeria.
He disclosed “after failing to agree with Nike for a review of the contract, we asked for permission to look for alternatives which Nike obliged and when Adidas finally agreed to Kit Nigeria, we took the offer back to Nike, if they could not match, but they allowed us to enter into a new deal with Adidas, which has been seal”.
What next for Nigeria’s football is the unveiling of the Normalisation Committee to midwife the elections into the new board and give football administration a fresh start and a breathe of fresh air going forward.
