It is another promise fulfilled as President Bola Tinubu’s Football Intervention Project begins with IMG, the project’s strategic partner, meets with top executives of the NTA at their Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
The IMG team and Afro Sport, the project’s Nigeria strategic partner, will also during the week meet with top executives of Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) , THE Nigerian Sports Commission (NSC) and corporate bodies that have shown interest in the project that promises to change the fortune of local football and make it one of the best in the world.
The NTA Headquarters will house the Production Hub for the project, so it’s important for the foreign partners to meet with management to discuss prospects and challenges, a member of Afro Sport said.
During the week, the IMG executives and Afro Sport executives will also meet with private football club owners of Ikorodu City and Remo Stars, as well as government-owned football club representatives from Kwara United and Lobi Stars.
Apart from these corporate entities, the IMG and Afro Sport fact-finding mission will also meet with individuals and corporate entities who have shown interest in the President Tinubu Football Intervention Project.
It will be recalled that Tinubu vowed after Super Eagles lost to host Cote d’ Ivorie in the final of the Afcon 2023 that his government will do everything possible to ensure that our sports, starting with football, will be among the best in the world while hosting the team at the Aso Rock Villa.
The President matched words with action soon after the pronouncement with brainstorming sessions with experts in football in Nigeria, experts at CAF, FIFA and other stakeholders in football.
The majority of the experts agreed that the best medicine for the moribund football industry is the involvement of the IMG.
Apart from the company’s phenomenal achievement with the Indian Cricket League which they turned into a multi-billion-dollar business and the English Premier League (EPL) which they have made the most successful football brand in the world, they pointed at the magic IMG did with the Afcon 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire.
CAF had engaged IMG before the championship to be the exclusive rights holder for international media rights.
At the end of the one-month football fiesta, 2023 Afcon was adjudged the most successful edition of the tournament in terms of media coverage, commercial revenues and television audiences.
IMG made Afcon more visible than ever before. The tournament achieved 1.1 billion viewers worldwide – double the figure achieved by the previous edition in Cameroon.
Argentine Football Association (AFA) the MLS, the NWSL, the Dutch Eredivisie, the NBA, British Cycling Events, and the Saudi Pro League Saudi Arabian Football Federation are some of the events which IMG work with as partners.
