The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) is set for a major financial boost after securing a $7.5 million title sponsorship agreement with Poland-based EuroMatch Group.
The three-year deal, announced by the NPFL board in Abuja on Wednesday, is worth $2.5 million per season and brings an end to the league’s 10-year spell without a title sponsor.
As part of the agreement, 60 per cent of the annual sponsorship income, amounting to $1.5 million, will go to the 20 participating clubs.
Using an exchange rate of N1,344 to the dollar, the clubs will share about N2.019 billion annually from the sponsorship proceeds.
NPFL chairman, Gbenga Elegbeleye, said the partnership would provide additional resources to improve the welfare of players and strengthen the financial position of the clubs.
According to him, increased visibility and better remuneration for players were among the key objectives of the agreement.
“What we need is more visibility for the league. On our own part, we will continue to move on. Every season we are going to get about $2.5m from EuroMatch for three years, that is $7.5m,” Elegbeleye said.
He stressed that the clubs must ensure that the financial benefits of the agreement translated into improved conditions for their players.
“The clubs will get 60 per cent of what we are doing and this must reflect in the welfare of our players,” he added.
The new partnership restores the title sponsorship model to the NPFL for the first time since Globacom’s agreement ended in 2016.
Globacom’s last sponsorship deal covered the 2012/13 season and continued until the 2016 Super Four competition. After the telecommunications company’s exit, the League Management Company, which was then in charge of the competition, adopted a multi-sponsor arrangement rather than immediately securing a replacement title sponsor.
The league subsequently continued to operate under the NPFL name pending the emergence of a new title sponsor.
EuroMatch Group, based in Warsaw, is a private investment and technology company with interests in the regulated global gaming industry.
The company operates a consumer sportsbook business under the Euromatch brand, while its GB2B platform provides gaming technology services to licensed operators.
EuroMatch says it currently has licensed gaming operations in Nigeria and Kenya and is seeking to expand into other regulated markets, including Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique.
Group chairman, Sadi Semih, described the sponsorship as a strategic investment in Nigerian football.
Semih said EuroMatch would work closely with the NPFL and other stakeholders to ensure that the partnership produced sustainable benefits and enhanced the international profile of the Nigerian league.
The precise formula for distributing the $1.5 million earmarked for the clubs has not been disclosed.
The clubs could, however, receive additional financial benefits if a proposal by the National Sports Commission to award N1 billion to the NPFL champions from the 2026/27 season is implemented.
The new season is scheduled to commence on Friday, with five-time champions Shooting Stars hosting newly promoted Inter Lagos in a South-West derby at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan.
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