By Victor Okoye
Abuja, June 3, 2025 (NAN) Ibrahim Gusau, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has tasked the management of Nigerian football clubs on the need to work hard towards professionalism and financial sustainability.
Gusau made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop for chairmen and chief operating officers of Nigeria’s football leagues and premier league clubs on Tuesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that officials of world football-ruling body, FIFA, are in the country to superintend over the programme’s sessions which are expected to offer nuggets on strategic planning, finance, commercial and marketing, and governance.
The workshop is geared towards taking a critical look into the management model of Nigeria football clubs and the leagues.
It aims to open new vistas and insights in proper governance, improve commercial viability and broaden the world-view of the administrators to drive their teams towards real growth and sustainability.
Gusau who was represented by Dr Mohammed Sanusi, the NFF General Secretary said the NFF has been intentional in impressing it on the clubs that they must work hard towards financial sustainability, and generally contribute to making the football ecosystem better for allstakeholders to be proud of the industry.
“This workshop will go a long way in getting the message across in a more profound manner, that the leagues and club football are the lifeblood ofa nation’s sport.
“It will also reveal that significant contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of our country can only happen through the activities and the gravitas that the leagues and clubs are able to establish to generate direct, indirect, and induced income.
“I therefore urge the participants to devote their attention to the various sessions in order to improve their wisdom, knowledge and understanding towards improving the lot of the country’s domestic game,” Gusau said.
Sanusi, who spoke to newsmen on the sidelines of the programme noted that the workshop was all about club strategic management.
He said as the “giant of Africa”, it was high time Nigeria took its rightful position in club management and participation in FIFA competitions.
“FIFA just came up with the Club World Cup with four countries representing Africa, unfortunately Nigeria is not one of them.
“It is our hope and believe that at the end of this programme, our club mangers should be able to come up with strategies on how to manage their clubs.
“Football goes beyond play, there are other extraneous variables that are as important as the techniques and tactics, that if not well tackled could constitute a hindrance to club management.
“This is exactly what FIFA is doing. For some time now, we have been having these discussions with FIFA on the need to have this training/workshop, and we are happy that it has finally become a reality,” he said.
NAN reports that FIFA’s delegation was led by El Hadji Wack Diop, Head of FIFA Regional Office for West and Central Africa, and includes Rasoamahenina Sanda Manonisoa, Marcos Piccalo, Federico Perez, Javier Sobrino and Laurent Colette.
Colette is a former managing director of French top club Olympique de Marseille, while Sobrino is a former chief strategy and innovation officer of Spain’s leading club, FC Barcelona.
Diop told newsmen that FIFA’s vision for 2023 to 2027 is to make football truly global, adding that its goal is to ensure that football is played everywhere, by everyone and at every level.
“This will be the first edition of the FIFA Club World Cup with four African countries participating.
“If you look at these four African countries, three of them come from North Africa and one from South Africa.
“The clubs coming from North Africa are very well organised and structured, and have been here for ages.
“So now, we want to give opportunities to all the clubs that have the potential to grow and we want to empower them, so they also can have opportunity one day to play the FIFA Club World Cup, which is very important,” he said.
The FIFA official explained that 11 countries have been earmarked for the pilot phase, including Nigeria, adding that countries that already have a strong league and where professional football was at a certain level, were given first consideration.
He revealed that at the end of the programme, FIFA would organise a kind of competition for the participating countries, adding that the winners would be given an opportunity to attend the FIFA Club World Cup.
The other countries enlisted in the FIFA pilot programme include Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Algeria, Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Angola.
No fewer than 40 persons from the 20 Nigeria Premier Football League clubs (Chairman and CEO of each club) are taking part in the programme.
Also, are the Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of the Nigeria Premier Football League, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League, and the Nigeria Nationwide League
Each of the 20 NPFL clubs is expected to submit a document indicating a clear pathway to financial autonomy, while taking good advantage of the history and assets of the clubs to grow them into global brands.
The programme which began on Tuesday will end on Wednesday.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
