Clubs ownership: LMC may adopt German model – Dikko
By; Jacob Onjewu Dickson
In order to ensure clubs are adequately funded and are not distracted by the ownership structure, the League Management Company (LMC) is mulling the adoption of the German model, where communities own and contribute to the development of teams.
Chairman of the LMC, Shehu Dikko dropped the hint while interacting with sports writers in Kaduna over the weekend.
Dikko said that it was important to initiate a model that would make teams sustainable, bringing stability to the team’s management, funding and control.
According to him, the need to create stability was greatly needed in view of history that has seen great teams go under because the owner could not continue funding them.
“Right now we are seeing great teams that are privately owned like Giwa and Ifeanyi Ubah. They are doing very well, but we don’t want what happened to big teams in the past like Concorde or Iwuanyanwu Nationale to repeat itself.
“We are thinking of introducing the German model, where each team has at least 50 per cent community ownership, where members of the community have a say in the team,” he said.
Dikko stressed that if members of the community are direct stakeholders, they would not allow such teams to go under, as they would be the number one fans of the teams at their matches, as well as contributing through annual subscription, which would provide funds for running the teams.
