Following its recent appointment as Team Nigeria’s kit producer for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, AFA Sports has set its eyes on the biggest pies, with the Super Eagles, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and other big football teams on its radar.
AFA, which is the acronym for Africa, is the kit manufacturer for Team Nigeria’s contingent to the Olympic Games, which officially begins on July 23. This makes it the first indigenous African kit partner at the Olympics.
Buoyed by this development, the company now wants to play in the biggest markets globally.
Speaking during a facility tour of his outfit’s factory in Lagos on Wednesday, AFA Sports CEO, Ugo Udezue, said the firm has only been able to tap five per cent of the opportunities available to them in the vast global sports market.
“Talking about the Super Eagles, yes we are looking in that direction too. That will be a dream come true to kit not just the Eagles, but the likes of Chelsea, Man United and Barcelona someday. It could be possible in the next couple of years, as we have started developing our football brands,” he said, adding that the Nigerian football league is not out of their view despite the low patronage the league is currently getting from the business world.
Taking an emotional review of the deal with the Nigerian government to the Olympics, Ugo, who is a former power forward with the national team, D’Tigers, said AFA Sports’ tenacity to quality helped it to make history with Team Nigeria.
“We didn’t chase a contract to Abuja,” he explained, “They came to us. Unknown to us, they had been carrying out detailed research and reports on Nigerian products. I give kudos to the sports minister and the sports ministry as it was their initiative to go with a Nigerian brand, but they were also determined to get top quality or go elsewhere.
“They visited and inspected our products from the assembly line to the finished product. They tested and were highly impressed with the designs, quality and vision behind AFA Sports. That was how we got the job.”
“What we are doing here today is to lay a solid foundation for future Nigerians. Nothing is achieved fully with just one generation. We are doing our part now and others will continue. The media was not like this, years back in Nigeria but a lot of innovations have come in and it is better for everyone.”
Ugo who hit the Nigerian and African scenes with the entertaining African Basketball League and later the Continental Basketball League added, “We have started well at AFA Sports and we know that it can only get better. This brand is less than four years old. If we can get this far in this short time we are positive that it will be a lot with younger ones coming up with ideas. It is a Nigerian dream.”
AFA Sports made their first major hit with the Nigerian basketball teams D’Tigers and D’Tigress. They have continued to expand in different directions as partners with the Nigerian volleyball teams, Ghana’s national basketball teams amongst others.
