TWO, three years ago nobody could have predicted that the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) would be thriving in 2023.
The outlook was bleak and it appeared that there was little hope of the country’s elite league ever getting properly back on its feet after some devastating knockdowns.
There was no title sponsor for years, no television deals while referees and other key officials were owed their entitlements.
Thankfully, mostly due to the injection of much-needed funds by partners GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited, the NPFL has kicked on this season after showing signs of recovery last season.
The fund management firm entered into a partnership with the Gbenga Elegbeleye-led NPFL and the union has paid off so far.
GTI is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and offers products and services like wealth management, liquidity management, structured products and mutual funds.
With its expertise and experience in financial services, GTI has obviously assessed the risk in the arrangement, in which it provides funds for the running of the NPFL with a view to recouping the money later through sponsorship deals for the league.
Before GTI’s intervention, the NPFL was in real trouble, racing towards oblivion.
Clubs were not paid their dues, match delegates were owed and there was no live television coverage as interest in the NPFL dipped alarmingly.
Indeed, GTI’s intervention came at the right time and has brought real stability to the once foundering league.
From last season when the arrangement took effect, GTI paid N10 million each to the 20 clubs and N100m to Enyimba who were champions after the abridged format had to be adopted to save the NPFL.
In the abridged format last season, the 20 clubs were split into two groups of 10 each and the normal 38 matchdays were reduced to 18 for the regular season.
The top three teams from each group then featured in the playoffs, playing an additional five games each.
As a result, the league was concluded within six months instead of the usual nine months, and crisis was averted.
Elegbeye, who was appointed as the head of the Interim Management Committee to replace the disbanded League Management Company, had pulled off a successful campaign and proven his mettle, along with his team, and with the support of GTI, and he was reappointed as the Chairman of the renamed Nigeria Premier Football League board.
Of course there might still be kinks to work out in the NPFL/GTI partnership, but what is clear is that it has worked so far.
GTI provided the funds to clear the N300 million owed to referees from previous seasons, and the officials are reportedly being paid promptly for this season.
Clubs administrators who, justifiably, questioned the partnership before this season kicked off are now onside, and the campaign has been largely smooth-sailing so far, with the NPFL champions set to receive N150m in prize money.
While the Propel Sports streaming deal is still ongoing on the NPFL TV app, with MTN acquiring exclusive rights, the league is also back on cable television.
Since the LMC and SuperSport fell out in 2016, the NPFL was not on cable or terrestrial television until last June when there was a temporary arrangement for the playoffs on the same SuperSport.
Now, StarTimes, another big cable television operator in the country, has acquired the broadcast rights for over N1 billion for the next five years.
The deal was signed in early November, with the money from StarTimes set to increase every year, and the high-quality broadcast has already begun.
Obviously, GTI is not in the partnership for free since it is a business outfit, but the gains to the NPFL and Nigerian football in general are enormous.
According to the terms of the partnership, GTI will receive a percentage of the funds raised, which all stakeholders appear to find satisfactory enough.
As part of GTI and NPFL’s efforts to bring the country’s top football league back to life using international best practices, The Nigeria Football Fund was created.
This fund has opened a vista for Nigerians to revitalise their own league as investors, with opportunities to invest in the fund and also reap good returns on investment (ROI) from the future growth of the NPFL.
In describing TNFF, GTI says: “The Nigeria Football Fund (TNFF) is an open-ended SEC-Registered Unit Trust/Mutual Fund with an initial public offering to raise N5,000,000,000, through the issuance of 5,000,000,000 units at N1.00 per Unit.
“It is a Fund launched by GTI Asset Management & Trust Limited to provide sustainable solutions to the challenges hindering the growth and advancement of football in Nigeria by focusing on the development of the Nigeria Professional Football League Clubs. The Fund seeks to build a strong economy on the wings of football.”
NPFL and GTI have scaled the first hurdle, the next challenge is to keep the league growing and get more young Nigerians on board.
