The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) possesses all the necessary elements to rival the world's best championships, but it must embrace openness and discipline to attract top teams and sponsors, according to Ike Chioke, Group Managing Director of Afrinvest West Africa Limited.
Chioke's Observations at the Title Decider
Chioke was among the spectators at Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, Lagos, on Sunday, witnessing Enugu Rangers defeat Ikorodu City to clinch the 2025/26 NPFL title. However, he expressed dissatisfaction with the officiating standards.
The Enugu Rangers supporter, whose firm serves as the Flying Antelopes' main sponsor, noted that Nigeria has over a thousand companies capable of investing in the league if its managers make it appealing to neutral fans.
“You could see this game this evening. Our boys played their hearts out, but you could see that the refereeing wasn’t totally balanced. We need to bring it to the standards of international football,” Chioke stated.
Call for Transparency and Discipline
“It is that ability to bring transparency and discipline to the game that will allow more corporate sponsorship to come in. Afrinvest is a small company relative to all the large blue-chip companies that exist today.
“I mean, if you look at the Nigerian exchange with the valuation of over N150 trillion today, there are many companies whose names should be on many teams; we have over 20 teams in NPFL.
“Going into the next season, you know, the Dangotes of this world, the banks and the cement companies should really be sponsoring football in Nigeria.
“For a country with the kind of youth unemployment we have… more than 70 per cent of our population are under age 25… football can be a mechanism to take people out of poverty, to create employment in merchandising, in football management, in training, in organisation and in the media, among others.
“So that’s why I hope the NPFL will take that charge and allow more transparency and more discipline in the way they do things.”
Potential Partnership with NPFL
Chioke expressed enthusiasm about the possibility of Afrinvest partnering with the NPFL at a higher level, “and hopefully elevate the game even further within Nigeria.”
Congratulatory Message to Enugu Rangers
He congratulated Enugu Rangers for winning their ninth Nigerian league title, describing their journey this season as incredible.
“We at Afrinvest are particularly proud to be associated with Rangers, and I’ve seen them carry the cup twice in three years.
“That says a lot for when finance meets football at its point of need and brings that discipline, that governance, that institutional capacity to support the team and elevate these young men to a platform where they can begin to see themselves on the global stage and go beyond Nigerian football.”
National Team Representation
Chioke was particularly thrilled that two Enugu Rangers players are in the national team preparing for the Unity Cup, which begins today in London.
“That shows you the quality of what we have brought to Rangers. We are very proud of what the boys have achieved, and we are super excited that this partnership will continue and take them to higher grounds,” he concluded.
