A multi-sport event showcasing sporting talents of Nigerian descent in the diaspora will hold in London on Friday.

The event slated for the University of Hertfordshire sports centre, has been described as the first-of-its-kind in the nation’s sports history.

It is being organised by the Nigeria Diaspora Talents Development Committee (NDTDC), which was set up by the National Sports Commission (NSC) as a grassroots sports development vehicle to ensure that athletes of Nigerian origin across the globe are discovered early enough and given the proper pathway to don the national colours.

According to the organisers, a major attraction of the event is the netball exhibition between Team Nigeria Diaspora netball team and a Pakistani team. The match will climax efforts between the NDTDC and the recently inaugurated board of the Nigeria Netball Federation aimed at building a strong Nigerian netball national team with a core of players from the diaspora.

Despite the fact that netball was a prominent post-independence sport in Nigeria, the sport had gone into oblivion in the nation in recent years. The implication is that there aren’t even recognised strong netball teams in the country.

The organisers say the event in London is a bound to change the narratives with the inauguration of NNF under the leadership of Dr. Mrs Esther Aluko.

Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade, who made the disclosure during the NNF inauguration said:

“I am aware of the immense work put in by NNF President, Dr. Mrs Esther Aluko, and Chairman of the Diaspora Talents Development Committee, Dr. Tunde Adelakun, to ensure that we get many of these our talented netballers across the world to represent Nigeria. When you take note that most of the best netballers in the world are Nigerians, this is very encouraging.

“Adelakun and his team have been in constant touch with these netballers and the NNF and they all keep saying that they want to play for Nigeria. Adelakun was one of those that have been mounting pressure on us to accord Federation status on netball. He has been compiling this list for a while in conjunction with Dr. Aluko. Honestly, their efforts and passion give us the encouragement to do this.

“We are so certain that Nigeria will soon be a global force in netball. We will take the sport to the schools but because this sport is more prominent abroad, we have readymade diaspora athletes to put us on the global map. In fact, that was why we set up the National Diaspora Talents Development Committee to help us take full advantage of these diaspora athletes,” Olopade stated.

Ahead of the Friday trials in London, the chairman of NDTDC Dr. Tunde Adelakun believes this is the beginning of brighter days for netball in Nigeria.

“In fact, we have a standby Team Nigeria Diaspora netball team. We have assembled players from across the globe who are willing to play for Nigeria and we will showcase them on Friday. This is a monumental grassroots initiative by the NSC and they deserve all the commendations. We are only here serving as facilitators, but the support of the Commission has been immense.

“It has really hurt over the years seeing athletes that should ordinarily play for Nigeria playing for other countries because we neglected them. All this will change in the current dispensation. On Friday we will showcase a truly Nigerian netball team that can hold its own globally. This is really historic.

“Training sessions for the netball team have started since May and we commend the dedication of the girls who have shown up willingly and ready to wear Nigeria’s colours. We have succeeded in building, in a very short time, a main team and a development team of younger players.”

Meanwhile, the Diaspora Talents Development Committee has secured the services of ex-England international netball player and world renowned netball club proprietor Alison Akinrinlola as Head Coach of the team, aiming to transition her into becoming the national team coach.

The Team Nigeria Diaspora netball team will play a tune-up match tomorrow (Tuesday) against the Commonwealth Games team of Scotland in Glasgow.

Adelakun adds: “Our first task is to see how far we can go in getting Nigeria to qualify for the 2027 Netball World Cup by participating in the Africa qualifying series in September 2026 in Kenya.”

The NDTDC multi-sport event holds between 9am and 4pm and will feature exhibitions in basketball, football, netball, athletics, taekwondo, golf and table tennis.