Nike Deal Will Excite Nigeria – Pinnick

It was a chance telephone call to NFF media man Ademola Olajire that presented me with the chance to ask if I could have audience with the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick.
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It was a long shot as I did not think Pinnick would agree and Olajire was leaving London the following day. As it happened I was asked to come to the Maida Vale area and I merrily went along.
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I eventually met with Pinnick at his London apartment for a quick chat that touched on a number of subjects, especially the new kit deal with US sportswear giants, Nike.
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Predictably Pinnick was quite pleased with the deal, “we were very discrete with the negotiations and wanted to make sure the deal was sealed before anyone got wind of it.” Did our failure to make the last Afcon tournament affect the negotiations in anyway?
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“We were in a very disadvantaged position not just because of the non-qualification of Afcon but also we had gone down in the Fifa rankings, and there were also the then internal wrangling in the football house that seemed to have made would be sponsors worried about what to expect from us,” says Pinnick earnestly. “We however made a strong case for our brand, doing a lot more work than we might have done otherwise.”
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Since the deal was announced the question Nigerians have been asking has been what the monetary value is of the deal. “The deal is more of Value In Kind (VIK) meaning that most of the money is valued in how much kits all the various national teams will get during the period of the contract into 2018. Initial value to this is $750 million per year. There are also bonuses for qualifying for tournaments for all the teams.”
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The deal starts immediately which means that all the national teams cannot even in training wear kits of former sponsor, Adidas.
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The NFF president was at pains to explain the importance of honouring contractual agreements especially on this. “We have a very good deal and we want to make sure we do not break or violate the terms of the deal. Our legal department will inform all the players invited to our national teams on what to do or wear when in their camps.”