January 30, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is facing a difficult year with its major partners including Nigerian Breweries, Air Peace, Cadbury, MTN, Emzor Pharmaceuticals, Aiteo, Coca-Cola, Revolution Plus, and Premier Lotto, threatening to not renew their partnerships.
This is due to the unprofessional attitude of the Federation towards corporate relationships, as revealed by reports monitored by THEWILL. Air Peace, Coca-Cola, and Revolution Plus have already severed ties with the NFF, and other organisations are expected to follow when their existing deals elapse.
A marketing communications officer in one of the organisations stated: “We are not a charity organisation, which doles out money without getting anything in return. We entered into the partnership with NFF because we thought a big brand like Nigerian football would present great marketing opportunities for us. But that is not the case…To even get five tickets for our top executives to watch the games was difficult; and since we failed to make the World Cup, nobody has deemed it fit to write to us, explain things to us and/or open a communications channel.”
Another official from a beverage manufacturing outfit also spoke out about their “flawed relationship” with the NFF, saying that the company has been forced to scale down on using Nigerian football to promote its activities due to the brand’s inconsistencies. She said: “We sponsor all the national teams, but none of these other teams compares to the Super Eagles. So, when the Super Eagles are down, it means every other thing around it is down…Tell me, how do we leverage our sponsorship of the game?”
Ademola Olajire, the NFF Director of Media, did not provide reasons why companies have left the Federation, saying only that “Their contracts ran out and they didn’t take the option of renewal.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
