Pinnick Reveals Why Adidas, Puma Dumped Nigeria
Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has explained why sportswear giants
Adidas and Puma severed commercial relationships with Nigerian football, attributing the decisions to
scandals and an incident involving three Nigerians that led one executive to blacklist the country.
Pinnick made the revelations in the latest episode of “The Pinnick Tapes” (Remastered): NFF Scandals
Exposed, published on Sunday Oliseh’s YouTube channel, Global Football Insights With Oliseh.
Speaking about the challenges he faced in attracting sponsors after assuming office as NFF president, he said Adidas had indicated its intention to leave shortly after he took over.
He described difficulties in securing meetings with major brands and recounted an encounter with a
Puma executive.
“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 executive eventually agreed to meet him and shared a story about three
Nigerians who visited his home on Christmas Day.
The men allegedly told the executive they could abandon an existing Adidas contract but had demands
of their own.
“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 then on, he made
up his mind never ever to have anything to do with Nigeria. He blacklisted Nigeria,” Pinnick said.
Pinnick did not identify the three Nigerians or disclose the nature of the demands. He said the
experience nevertheless strengthened his resolve to secure another major international kit sponsor for
the Super Eagles, which later led to a long-term deal with Nike.
The comments come amid recent developments in Nigerian football kit sponsorships, including the
NFF’s move from Nike to a new multi-million-dollar agreement with Adidas announced earlier this week
by outgoing officials.
By Oyinkansola Shittu.
