7th January, 2015
Nigeria football national team players may not be able to exchange jerseys with opponents if the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) fails to land a new kit sponsorship deal before major tournaments commence.
The NFA says it may need to purchase kits from Adidas for the various national football teams following the refusal of the German kit giant to renew its four-year kits sponsorship deal that expired on December 31.
Idris Adama, NFA Director of Marketing, told NAN in Abuja that the purchase would only be made when every option available to the NFA to secure fresh kits sponsorship deal had failed.
“We are really working at our level from the marketing department and from our marketing consultant. We have put our heads together, the marketing committee of the NFA and we are really working to ensure we get a new kit sponsor for the national teams.
“In the event that we could not get a new kit sponsor among the best kit sponsors in the world, we have no option than to still remain with Adidas but we need to buy and wear.
“They are ready to produce for us to wear but we need to go and buy; what we were getting before free of charge, we will now have to go and buy and wear.”
Adama regretted that players’ indiscipline and the leadership crises that usually rock the football house were some of the factors that had stalled the contract renewal talks with Adidas.
He alleged that the country’s football managers had failed at different point to protect the rights of the sponsors.
This, he said, was responsible for the delay or refusal of the major kit sponsor to sign a fresh contract with the NFA.
“No kit supplier will want to kit a team that has been beaten by a team you never expected to beat them; our teams must have a winning mentality before we can say this is what our value is.
“We also need to have a criteria for players and coaches of the national teams, especially in terms of attitude. You cannot be playing for the national team and then we have a kit supplier who supplying all your needs and you go to the pitch and wear their competitors’ kit.
“They (Adidas) are fully aware and major tournaments kit suppliers don’t joke with it; AFCON, World Cup, if you joke with them you lose them.”
He further said that no football partner would see a country’s football matters been taken to court and still want to continue with the sponsorship.
Adama said that the NFA began to witness downward trend in its sponsorship drive in 2006 during the Ibrahim Galadimma reign as NFA Chairman because of Nigeria’s inconsistency in football administration.
He said that the inconsistency continued in 2010 when Sani Lulu was impeached by his board after his first four years in office.
“The interest fell drastically and people were no longer interested in investing and after 2010 is another 2014. It then means that in every four years, there are crises; serious investors don’t look into such areas to invest, they look into environment that is conducive for business and that is sustainable.”