Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick has revealed how alleged backdoor dealings and damaged corporate relationships contributed to the exit of sportswear giants Adidas and Puma from Nigerian football.
Pinnick, speaking in a wide-ranging interview with former Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh, said he was shocked to discover Adidas was preparing to end its relationship with the NFF shortly after he assumed office in 2014.
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He said the development came as he was confronted with a broader sponsorship crisis involving several major companies.
Pinnick recalled travelling to Zurich to meet the president of Adidas in an attempt to convince the German sportswear giant to reconsider its decision.
“I was utterly flabbergasted when I got the letter from Adidas. A few weeks or a few months into my being NFF president, they were leaving,” Pinnick said.
He said his efforts to reverse the decision were unsuccessful, although he later learnt that several issues had influenced Adidas’ decision.
“It was later I found out so many things that are, you know, that I cannot come out in the media to say. I don’t like indicting people,” he said.
Pinnick added that the financial details surrounding the federation’s commercial relationships could be verified in the NFF’s audited accounts prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The former NFF president said the sponsorship crisis extended beyond Adidas, with several major companies either withdrawing from Nigerian football or indicating their intention to leave.
“When we came on, Globacom was leaving, Adidas had left, General Insurance had left, and Guinness wrote us that they were leaving,” he said.
Pinnick said he subsequently tried to establish a relationship with Puma but encountered resistance from the sportswear company’s leadership during the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
“I was introduced to the head of Puma. The head of Puma meant he understood that I was a Nigerian, not even as president of anything at that point. He didn’t want to talk to me,” Pinnick recalled.
According to Pinnick, the Puma executive later explained that an incident involving three Nigerians had shaped his negative perception of the country.
Pinnick alleged that the men had approached the executive at his home on Christmas Day with a proposal involving Puma’s existing relationship with Adidas.
“He told me a story about how three Nigerians came to his house on Christmas Day to tell him, ‘We can jettison the contract we have with Adidas, but this is what we wanted.’
“And from there on, he made up his mind never to have anything to do with Nigeria,” Pinnick said.
With Adidas and Puma out of reach, Pinnick said he embarked on an international search for a new kit sponsor, travelling to the United States and the Netherlands in pursuit of a deal.
His efforts eventually led to an agreement with Nike, which became the Super Eagles’ official kit supplier.
“And that’s where I went to my room, and I prayed, and I said, ‘God, give us Nike.’
“It was a tough call, but eventually we got Nike,” he said.
Pinnick’s comments came during an interview that also touched on Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2022 and 2026 FIFA World Cups, unpaid coaches and players, political interference and structural challenges within Nigerian football.
The former NFF president rejected suggestions that his administration was responsible for weakening the federation’s commercial position.
Instead, he argued that his tenure significantly improved the NFF’s financial independence by attracting new sponsors and commercial partners.
“When I was president of NFF, no sponsors left me. I brought in sponsors. I went from zero to almost 80% of self-funding,” Pinnick said.
His account sheds further light on the commercial challenges facing Nigerian football, while underscoring the importance of trust, credibility and strong corporate relationships in securing major international sponsorships.
The former NFF president’s revelations also raise broader questions about how Nigeria manages its relationships with global brands and whether governance failures and individual interests have, over the years, undermined the commercial potential of the country’s football industry.
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