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 has 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 bound to change the narrative with the inauguration of NNF under the leadership of Dr Esther Aluko.

Speaking while inaugurating the NNF in Abuja, NSC’s Director-General, Bukola Olopade, said: “I am aware of the immense work put in by NNF President, Dr Esther Aluko, and Chairman of the Diaspora Talents Development Committee, Dr Tunde Adelakun, to ensure that we get many of 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.”

Ahead of Friday’s trials in London, NDTDC Chairman, Dr Adelakun, said it 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.”

He disclosed that 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.

Adelakun said that the diaspora netball team will play a tune-up match today against the Commonwealth Games team of Scotland in Glasgow.

He added: “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 9 am and 4 pm and will feature exhibitions in basketball, football, netball, athletics, taekwondo, golf and table tennis.