‘How Nigerian Football Fund will revolutionise NPFL’

Nigerian football followers believe that given the enabling environment, the country’s players can stand their own against the best in the world. According to experts, among the greatest undoing of the Nigerian football ecosystem are the poor facilities and the difficult environment the players ply their trade.

Such difficulties are what the Nigerian Football Fund is out to address.

The Nigerian Football Fund, powered by GTI Group, is a partnership created by the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) to create the enabling environment for the league to become a lucrative venture.

Speaking during a parley with journalists in Lagos, yesterday, Nigerian Football Fund’s Nelson Ine, explained that the Fund will bring in money from the private sector to make the NPFL viable.

He said: “We have a strategic partnership with the NPFL for the development of the league and football generally. That is the arrangement we have with the NFF and the NPFL. It is not a sponsorship per se.”

Ine said the Fund will bring liquidity to energise the NPFL and ensure that it start generating revenue for the clubs, players and everybody involved in the game. Live Betting

Drawing examples from the English Premier League, which is one of the biggest sports products in the world, Ine said the Nigerian Football Fund will ensure that operators and everybody involved in the game play according to the rules.

“What drives sports and business all over the world is ethics and corporate governance structures; the transparency in the system, and the accountability. You will agree with me that these are things our sports have been struggling with. If you look at sports all over the world, even the EPL, La Liga, and the French league-you find that the top brands in those countries are associated with the league.”

“Now the question you want to ask is why are the top brands in Nigeria not associating with our own league. It is a lack of processes and corporate governance structure. What we are looking at doing is bringing a system that is going to outlive all of us; that is not tied to any single individual.”

He said GTI will work with the 20 NPFL clubs to put the right structures and processes in place, adding, “GTI is like a consultant partner. As we grow the value, we will also earn value; earn benefits from this value but there is a basis for these values to be given.

“Everything is standardised, there is a template running the whole system. There is a system now. As the value continues to grow, the clubs will grow in value, the league property will grow in value, the players will grow in value, the referees will grow in value, and the coaches and all stakeholders will grow in value.”

Ine said that GTI has developed a unique model to run the Nigerian league and create opportunity to investors buy into the game through the Nigeria Football Fund.  Live Betting

According to Ine, the Fund’s initial public offering is valued at N1 per unit, with the “minimum subscription to the fund being 100, 000 or N100, 000 and thereafter in multiples of N100,000.”