The
game of football has always been the most loved and unifying sport for
Nigerians and until the 1970s there existed several towns/cities owned football
clubs that excelled even on the national stage. This format of club ownership was
stopped by the football federation.
Individuals such as Chuba Ikpeazu (Ikpeazu
Redoubtables FC of Onitsha), Sir Israel Adebanjo (Stationery Stores FC of Lagos),
Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe(Zik Elevens of Onitsha), Mr. Raccah(Raccah Rovers FC, Kano), Chief
Patrick Osakwe(Flash Flamingoes FC, Benin), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu(Iwuanyanwu
Nationale FC of Owerri), Chief Moshood Abiola(Abiola Babes FC, Abeokuta),
Alhaji Aruwan(Ranchers Bees FC of Kaduna)etc have run private football
clubs that fizzled out into extinction. The same is true about several clubs owned
by Nigerian Banks, insurance and investment institutions, amongst others. Their
dearth has been attributed to several reasons, such as poor management, the dis-enabling
environment of government, the dwindling economy, etc.
Overall,
this industry has rarely worked successfully for private sector investment but
the corporate strategies of Sporting Lagos
FC look interesting and hopefully sustainable.
THE VISION BEHIND SPORTING LAGOS FC
The
club debuted the Nigerian football space in February 2022, with tremendous buzz! It
was founded by Nigerian techprenuer Mr. Shola Akinlade, OON, the
unassuming founder of fintech payment company, Paystack (acquired by Stripe, in 2020) and
majority shareholder of the Danish second division club, Aarhus Fremad FC.
According
to the assertion of its founder;
“We
want to spend the next 40 years building generations of football talents in
Nigeria.”
Whilst developing a sports academy of budding young
talents, true to the above assertion to develop fresh talents for generations, Sporting
Lagos FC has recruited a team of hugely unknown players and coaching personnel,
whilst forming an astute management personnel led by Mr Godwin Enakhena, an
experienced sports journalist and football manager.
SPORTING LAGOS: AN
ENTREPRENEURIAL MASTERCLASS
The
club has moved from the Nigerian National League to the Nigerian Professional Football
League within under two years of its debut. Looking at the team; the zeal and
passion of its players’ it's evident that the players are well taken care of and
a positive team vision has been impacted into them. There’s the buzz around the
stadium during their home games and have immediately begun to enjoy other
corporate brands such as ABEG, PIGGYVEST, RENMONEY,
and HELIUM
HEALTH. The goodwill from these
organizations could be another means to articulate their own business
possibilities, through football. Akinlade affirmed thus;
The
team has also got KLASHA,
a reputable African cross-border payment platform as their jersey brand
partner and sports kit manufacturing company, UMBRO
supporting their enterprise. In February 2023, Akinlade, became the majority
owner of the Danish club, Aarhus Fremad and articulated his desire to drive the
growth of Sporting Lagos FC, using the long-lasting framework of Aarhus Fremad FC
and also using them as a launch pad for the global exposure of players from Sporting
Lagos FC. Unlike other past private sector club owners, this club is being
built on a strong entrepreneurial framework, which should guarantee its
longevity.
Winning
the love of the sports-crazy but hard-to-satisfy
LAGOS fans is a great positive for the Sporting Lagos FC team and with
more consistency in their good performances, they’d be able to tick the right
boxes in the sporting and business vision of the club. We hope that more private investors will follow
this path to make Nigerian football development become a genuinely private
sector-driven industry, rather than its current state.
