7 Ways to rebuild the Nigerian Football League Fast

Years ago, the Nigerian football league was the talk of the town. It was such an avenue for talents to blossom, players from the league at a time made up the squad of the national team. Unfortunately, now, only a few people can mention the names of the 20 clubs in the league. Did I forget to mention that the league was supposed to start on the 18th of December 2022? Do with this information whatever you think. The problem the Nigerian football league is facing is a general thing in the country. The league is suffering from terrible economic decisions of the country, a lack of will disease, and a corrupt virus. When the economy of a country is good, citizens can afford to engage in leisure, luxury, and fun that may cost money just to bring happiness. Hungry people can not afford leisure, luxury, and fun. Agreed, football and sports in general do not have a lot of direct beneficiaries. However, one thing you can not take away from it is that it can generate forex, and income in the form of tax for the government. Now one will ask "why is the Nigerian government not taking sports (most especially football) seriously?" Government should stop seeing sports as a hobby... It is a business. We do not claim ownership to the pictures used Below are ways to rebuild the league to make it stand out as one of the best in the world. 1. Fight Corruption The biggest problem with the Nigerian league comes from the glass house- the headquarter of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). We keep hearing of how monies go missing in there, we hear one thing today and another tomorrow, contracts shielded in secrecy. The lack of willingness to fight this monster has dealt with the NFF's image globally. To be honest, this is affecting the investors' confidence. Nobody will put his money where it will just go missing and nobody will be held accountable. Also, investors want to see unity in the house. Where there is confusion, there will be corruption. 2. Privatize the Nigerian Football League As controversial as it may sound, this is the easiest way we can develop the league. First, every problem has its peculiarities. The Nigerian league's problem can not be solved by adopting the German or English solution. Rather, it can be solved the Nigerian way. For instance, the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was privatized, though the difference is clear now compared to when it was still the Nigerian Electricity Power Authority (NEPA). As it stands now, the government makes more money, and in a lot of places, there is a steady power supply. Now, privatizing the Nigerian football league will take the running of the league off the hands of the NFF (and Government), the welfare of the players will be at the front burner, the league will be modernized, there will be more money, more investors, more TV companies and above all the economy will boom because the government will earn more through taxes. In privatizing the league, the investors will have 70% of the league, the NFF will have 10%, the Federal government through the ministry of sports will have 10% while the clubs that are part of the 20-team league for the season will have the remaining 10%. With this structure, the league will become very profitable to the country and there will be more accountability to all stakeholders. However, the investors will have to nominate a globally trusted organization to manage the league. 3. Welfare of the players The welfare of the players goes beyond their monthly take-home package. Their health, insurance, nutrition, accommodation, and security are other serious priorities football clubs should have on their list for the players. It is so sad that players in most clubs of the league are either not paid or underpaid when you take into consideration of their contractual agreement (it is if they ever signed a contract). I have heard of and seen players whose injuries cut short their playing careers. Some of these injuries are what can easily be treated here in Nigeria, but because their clubs abandoned them they were meant to treat themselves on an empty pocket, and we all know the outcome of such scenarios. In Europe, Asia, and the Americas, what goes into the mouth of the player is the same as how he or she plays football. We have heard and seen how players who play on the aforementioned continents are placed on healthy nutrition plans. Now, what type of salaries and bonuses are the players and staff members of these clubs on, and are they regularly paid? What are the logistics plans of these clubs, and what type of buses do they use for their travels (they should switch to using luxury buses)? Do they also travel by air? Do these clubs have psychologists working with these players? 4. Coaching This is the most messed up segment of the Nigerian football league. The coaching in the league is all about shouting, and selecting your favorite players (not the best) for match-day games. The coaches themselves are not well motivated by the clubs. Just very few are average tacticians- and they always disgrace themselves on any continental engagement. One of the ways to put the league back in shape is to get it right with the coaches. If the coaches are excellent it will show on the pitch. 5. Stadium We do not have a well-structured football league stadium in Nigeria that is TV-friendly- that is the truth. I am not going to compare any league to the other, instead if we can convince any investor to invest in the league or buy a club, we should also convince him or her to build another stadium for the club and also a club headquarters which should also house the club's training ground. Anyway, since building a new stadium is capital intensive why don't renovate the ones available and make to be camera friendly? Also, they should have floodlights to make night games very attractive to fans. One thing that makes a stadium attractive to me is the side pitch advertising boards. Just make every part of the stadium digital. People just want to feel at home whenever they are in a stadium. 6. Live Match Airing (Marketing) There are a lot of benefits that come with airing a match live. Unfortunately, the Nigerian Football league is still suffering from a lack of exposure and noise making. Yeah, noise-making is an effective business marketing strategy. How on earth should Enyimba and Kano Pillars be playing a high-profile match and everywhere will be so quiet and dull? It beats my imagination. When you air matches, more investors, more buyers for the players, better playing football, more exposure, and more interest in the league will have. I do not need to go further for now because in our next article "ways to make money owning a football club in Nigeria" we explain in detail how Live Match Airing will benefit everybody. 7. Jersey Another place to work effectively is the kind of jersey our football clubs have. They are so dull and not appealing to the eye. No club in the league has an interesting jersey and the clubs and the jersey producers are to take the fall for this. We understand how expensive it is to make these wears, but if you are trying to build a brand you have to go for the best. OWU please keep improving. For now, these are the 7 ways to rebuild the Nigerian Football League. We know that it is not going to be easy to build a league, however, we are rebuilding a league. This means that we were once a top league just the act of mismanagement led us down. Anyway, rebuilding is easier than building a new one.

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7 Ways to rebuild the Nigerian Football League Fast

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