By; AYO OJEDOKUN, Lagos.
Another new dawn in the progress of the Nigeria Professional League (NPFL), as Star Lager Beer has signed a groundbreaking partnership with its management.
The signing of agreement came months after the League Management Company (LMC), organizer of the NPFL, announced a partnership with La Liga.
Nigerian football legends, key sports regulators and officials, celebrities and Star Larger consumers were among dignitaries that attended the ceremony held at the Eko Hotel on Victoria Island, Lagos.
The LMC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko said the NPFL had grown rapidly over the past few years and the new partnership would lift the league higher.
“We hope to push it beyond expectations and make it the biggest league in Africa. Bringing Star to the table is only natural as the beer has identified with football in Nigeria over the years,” Dikko explained.
In his reaction, Portfolio Manager, National Premium, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr. Tokunbo Adodo, also said at the event: “It is only natural for us to prove our love for the game by partnering with the Nigerian Professional Football League and we can assure fans of innovative and thrilling developments in the years to come”.
NNsports further learnt that the five-year partnership will push the frontiers for football in Nigeria in the years ahead.
“As an average of 8, 000 fans attended games in the 2014/15 season, with the LMC saying it was the biggest crowd number for domestic football in Nigeria for more than 15 years.
“It is common these days to see families attend local league matches in their bright club replica jerseys due to the increased security at venues across the country,” Dikko further Explained.
Dikko who stated further believes strongly in the improvement of the League saying over 31 away wins have been so recorded in recent time. “The highest in 10 years, and the league has become more competitive as clubs now chase points on the road leading to greater excitement for the fans who are the biggest stakeholders”.
“This partnership agreement with Star shows that there is opportunity for corporate Nigeria in our league and we hope that many more organizations will take advantage of football to reach their target audiences as we continue to build an attractive league which already has an average of 500 posts with four million impressions made about the NPFL on Twitter every weekend.”
However, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Franco Maria-Maggi, has described the partnership as capable of engendering excitement among fans of football.
“We are excited to sign this agreement with the LMC that sees Star become Official Partner of the NPFL for the next four seasons,” Maria-Maggi said.
As part of the agreement, Star would also sponsor a Football League Feature Game that would bring in foreign clubs to face a league All-Star Team during its off-season, in addition to supporting the passion of local fans across Nigeria.
