Dora Kayode grabs ‘Outstanding Female Football Agent’ award

The annual Diamond Special Recognition Awards Worldwide, founded by the CEO of Bustline Media International, Yetunde Oduwole, recently held its 11th edition at the Monarch Event Centre, in Lagos, with FA licensed football agent, Ezinne Dora Kayode, crowned the Outstanding Female Football Agent of the Year.

The award project goes around the world to applaud charitable individuals and groups who support and empower their various communities towards sustainability.

Dora Kayode, who is the first woman to bag a football agent license in Nigeria, in her acceptance speech thanked the organizers of the award for their professionalism in selecting the most deserving for their accolades, thus leaving no room for controversies.

“It’s a pleasure to see so many great people here today. Thanks to Diamond Special for this honour and making it devoid of any scandal and much love to everyone who believed in me and still believing in me.

“To my family that have been with me always, I want to make history as a football agent. It is a big motivation seeing you all support and cheer me up always,” said Dora Kayode.

The recipient of the Outstanding Female Football Agent award is the wife and manager of Olarenwaju ‘Larry’ Kayode, the Nigerian international and Shaktar Donetsk striker who is currently on loan at Turkish first division outfit Sivaspor.

Ezinne Dora Kayode poses with her award.

For the records, aside from being a football agent, Dora Kayode is a renowned Lawyer and a real estate developer who has developed and invested in a lot of properties in Lagos and beyond. Knowing that her husband won’t play football forever, she ventured into the real estate sector to earn passive income and set aside funds for retirement.

She told The Guardian she took up the role of a football agent to help her husband and other footballers who barely manage to cope with life away from the pitch because of the encumbrances caused by contractual agreements.

“As a Lawyer, I decided to study the rule of football and combine it with fundamental human rights to ensure that my clients get the better of any contract,” she said.

The Madonna University law graduate also said clinching the Female Football Agent of 2021 prize didn’t come as a surprise due to the giant strides she had made in the past few years, particularly in the areas of enlightening African footballers and practically securing their freedom from slavish and dubious contracts that would have wrecked their career.

“I helped free Kayode from the bondage of slave contracts, which remains the bane of most African players. Unfortunately for footballers, most of them are not really enlightened and I am sorry to say this. They need people who can tell them the truth, educate them on their rights, and I’m always ready to do this,” she said.