Why sportswear giants Adidas, Puma dumped Nigeria — Pinnick

Former Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick has revealed the reasons behind sportswear giants Adidas and Puma's withdrawal from Nigeria's football scene. According to Pinnick, the decision to sever the commercial relationships with the sportswear companies was primarily due to an incident involving three Nigerians, which led to the companies blacklisting the country.

Pinnick disclosed this in a recent episode of "The Pinnick Tapes: NFF Scandals Exposed," which is available on Oliseh's YouTube channel, Global Football Insights With Oliseh.

Pinnick explained that he had been unsuccessful in convincing Adidas to reconsider their decision when he met with the company's president in Zurich. The former NFF president mentioned that he discovered multiple factors influenced the company's decision to leave, but he did not disclose specific details to avoid publicly indicting anyone.

He stated that the sponsorship crisis became more evident when other major companies, such as Globacom, General Insurance, and Guinness, also indicated their intentions to leave Nigerian football.

When Pinnick attempted to establish a relationship with Puma, he initially faced resistance from the company's top executive. The executive, who was introduced to Pinnick during the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, initially refused to speak with him. According to Pinnick, the executive eventually agreed to meet him but recounted an alleged incident involving three Nigerians who had visited his home on Christmas Day.

These individuals reportedly told the executive that they could abandon their contract with Adidas but had specific demands of their own. Following this, the executive decided never to have anything to do with Nigeria, effectively blacklisting the country.

Despite these setbacks, Pinnick remained determined to secure another major international kit sponsor for the Super Eagles. He traveled to the United States and the Netherlands to pursue a new kit deal and ultimately succeeded in attracting Nike. Pinnick acknowledged that his administration encountered challenges in retaining sponsors, but he argued that he managed to increase the federation's commercial revenue from zero to nearly 80% of self-funding.

He emphasized that the federation's sponsorship difficulties were not entirely his administration's fault, as major commercial partners had already begun withdrawing from Nigerian football before his tenure.