Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Amaju Pinnick, has expressed his delight after the extension to Nigeria’s kit sponsorship deal with Nike.
The American company signed another long-term contract with the NFF to kit all national team.
“We need to know where we are coming from to be able to appreciate where we are now,” Mr Pinnick said on Tuesday.
“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.”
Similarly, NFF’s second vice-president, Shehu Dikko, was full of praises for the company.
“They never stopped believing in us and in our teams, and after they conducted their due diligence on everyone involved in the running of the NFF,” he said.
“They were very eager to sign this new deal as far back as when we returned from the World Cup in Russia. But we kept telling them to give us some time.
“We are very happy because this new agreement comes with good money on annual basis, more supplies, (and) improved qualification bonus for our teams.
“(There is also) door-to-door delivery of kits, royalty for the NFF on jerseys sold and it has now been expanded to include our women, 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.
“This contract brings a huge sigh of relief. Now, we do not have to worry about clearing kits at the ports because Nike now has that responsibility to bring it to our door.
“All the National Teams are now captured, we earn money on number of jerseys sold and a new kit will be designed for Nigeria prior to the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo.”
