Private sector confidence to invest in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) is building as the Interim Management Committee (IMC) and Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation penned an unprecedented billion Naira renewal deal for the second edition of the NPFL-Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation pre-season tournament.
After the first-of-its-kind sponsorship prize money of ₦130 million for the first edition held last November, Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation has now staked ₦1.2 billion in prize money for the winner and runners-up with the winner set to receive ₦1 billion and ₦200 million for the second placed side.
At inauguration, the IMC was mandated to stabilise the NPFL and position the league to attract investors and sponsors.
GTI, a finance investment company was the first to embrace the reformed league when, through The Nigeria Football Fund (TNFF), it signed to inject over ₦1 billion for administrative and marketing of the league with an objective to grow the league to a ₦5 billion industry in the next five years.
At a ceremony in Abuja in early January, GTI had presented ₦200 million to the 20 NPFL clubs as season’s start-up grant in addition to providing funds for enhanced indemnities for match officials and also ensure live broadcast of NPFL matches.
IMC Chairman, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye described the development as the private sector’s vote of confidence in the ongoing reforms of the NPFL.
Elegbeleye said: “I am encouraged that our work to reposition the league is being well received by corporate Nigeria and I see the Dozy Mmobuosi pre-season tournament as a fantastic opportunity to signal to others that we now have a league they can partner with to showcase their products and services while providing young football talents in the country the enablement to live their dreams”.
Mr. Dozy Mmobuosi, who sits atop a global multi-million dollars tech business, minced no words in demonstrating his confidence in the NPFL as the right platform to impact on the overall good of football in Nigeria.
“We decided to expand the scope of the tournament from four to twelve in response to growing demand from fans and stakeholders for more high-level football action”, Mmobuosi explained, adding that arising from the satisfaction we derived from the inaugural edition, “we are pleased to inject more funds to the tournament to enable teams to invest more resources in players, facilities, and infrastructure in order to attract top talents to the league and raise the overall standard of football in Nigeria”.
Echoing his boss, CEO of Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation, Ebuwa Martins Agbonwaneten reiterated that the Foundation is committed to working with NPFL to contribute to the social and economic development of Nigerian youths through football.
“The Dozy Mmobuosi Super Cup Football Tournament is an excellent platform to promote the growth and development of Nigerian football. We look forward to another successful tournament and the opportunity to showcase the best of Nigerian football”, Agbonwaneten said.
GTI Executive Director and Project Director of TNFF, Nelson Ine said that the NPFL-Dozy Mmobuosi tournament is consistent with the vision to grow the financial base of the NPFL.
“This is supports our position that the NPFL is the most valuable sports asset in Africa. The ultimate goal is to continue to energize the NPFL to attract corporate organizations to partner with the League to deliver these benefits to all stakeholders”, remarked Ine.
Head of Operations at the NPFL, Davidson Owumi believed that the private sector are observing the rebuilding of the league through “very transparent application of the rules, improved officiating of matches and the successful return of live broadcast of games”.
“The prize money is a huge impetus to our quest to improve stadium infrastructure, players welfare and overall compliance with the Club Licensing requirements in the NPFL”, continued Owumi as he assured that the IMC will work with the clubs to ensure that the money is applied in conformity with the Sponsors vision to improve quality of match venues and attract top talents to the league.
He also noted that the NPFL has in the last two editions of the youth programme, the NPFL-LaLiga U-15 Tournament, received support from telecommunications giant, MTN and Value Jet, a new private airline operator.
It is estimated that the financial outlay for the NPFL-Dozy Mmobuosi pre-season tournament would cross the ₦2 billion mark as the 12 clubs will share ₦240m in participation fees at the start.
Through its medical outreach, the Foundation also provides free prostrate cancer screening for willing adult male. Other activation costs creates a huge investment in the ecosystem that includes hotels, food vending, sports equipment, music, branding collaterals and transportation amongst others.
