Nigeria being a sports loving country has never taken the population we have into consideration in making sports decision. Over the years we have relied only on Federal Government to give us the needed financial resources to implement our sports programs. We have a population of almost 200 million people with the sporting population being in the region of 60 million. Even with this staggering number we fail to make it count. Sports remains a money spinning venture in Europe and other parts of the world but we fail to tap into it. Recently Manchester City owners sold 13% of their shares to a Chinese Consortium firm with the figures being in the range of more than 200 million pounds which was the same amount that was used to buy the club in 2009. The value of the club is more than 2 billion pounds and this is the same with clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Arsenal. Our football clubs, Age grade competitions and the National team have not felt the impact of financial break through and this is due to the lack of a functional marketing team. A simple merchandise model aimed at selling what the football industry has will provide the necessary funds we lack. Football marketing such as sale of clubs jerseys, sponsorship of stadiums and home training grounds, sponsorship of jerseys, branding club offices clubs through sponsorship, signing beneficial arrangements and contracts with Blue Chip companies, transport companies and airlines, inviting ex-internationals and making them Brand Ambassadors, Organizing competitions with other clubs outside the country, signing sponsorship deals for Financial and philanthropic purpose and rendering proper accounts on how these funds are spent. Nigeria is yet to scratch the surface because if we do, then we would realize that football is big business and does not require funds from the government to operate.
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