In the last decade, European football has seen the emergence of a new phenomenon: billionaire owners. Top clubs across Europe have all been purchased by private owners or a consortium, who have then heavily invested in the clubs. While American billionaires, Asian consortiums, particularly from Arab countries, and European entrepreneurs have made headlines for owning these clubs, Nigerians are starting to flex their muscles.
We look at four Nigerians who have taken the bull by the horn to own clubsides in Europe.
Shola Akinlade
Shola Akinlade, the co-founder and CEO of Paystack, has bought the Danish club Aarhus Fremad. The 38-year-old bought a 55 percent stake in the 76-year-old Danish club, which plays in the second-division of the Danish League, making him the majority owner. Presently, the club are on top of the Danish second division with six points, with the hope of securing qualification to the Danish first division next season.
Last year, Shola founded Sporting Lagos FC, a Lagos-based football club that competes in the Nigeria National League. According to the entrepreneur, Sporting Lagos will serve as a platform for community development and social change. He claims that the club’s goal is to use football to create job opportunities in Nigerian communities, and he intends to find young, untapped talents and train them to excel at the sport.
The purchase of Aarhus means that the Danish club will become a sister club to Sporting Lagos. Before Shola purchased the Danish club, it was experiencing financial difficulties. The club reported a two million kroner ( about eighty nine million Naira) loss over the previous two years in its most recent financial report.
Kunle Soname
Kunle Soname, a Nigerian billionaire and entrepreneur, owns the Portuguese club CD Feirense. The businessman became the first Nigerian to own a European football club when he purchased Feirense, a second division club in Portugal, as the majority shareholder in 2015.
Two years after launching the sports betting company Bet9ja, he acquired the club through his company, Tavistock Global Resource Limited.
Remo Stars Football Club
Soname is also the owner and chairman of Remo Stars Football Club, a Nigerian professional football club based in Ikenne, Ogun State, Nigeria. The club competes in the Nigeria Professional Football League, the top division of the Nigeria Football League system. Remo Stars FC is having a fantastic season, currently sitting second in the league and vying for the league title.
His Portuguese club, CD Feirense, plays its home games at the Estádio Marcolino de Castro, which seats around 5,500 people. Feirense is currently seventh in Liga Portugal 2 and will hope to improve their fortunes in order to qualify for the first division.
Nneka Ede
Nneka Ede, a businesswoman, is the only woman on this list. She is the owner of Portuguese clubside, Lusitano Ginásio Clube, MHC, also known as Lusitano de Évora. The club is based in Évora and competes in the Campeonato de Portugal, the Portuguese football system’s fourth-tier league. Mrs. Ede’s ownership of the 110-year-old team in Portugal’s third division began in June 2020.
She is also the first African woman to own a European side. Nneka Ede purchased all of the shares at the time of purchase. Lusitano FC reached their pinnacle in the 1950s, when they competed in the Primeira Divisao for 14 consecutive seasons. The club’s home stadium, Estádio do Lusitânia in Lourosa, has a total capacity of 11,000 people.
Dozy Mmobuosi
Nigerian techpreneur and billionaire Mmobuosi is reportedly on the verge of completing a £115 million takeover of Sheffield United, an English football club. Dozy had hired world-renowned finance firm Deloitte to audit and fine-tune his and his company’s finances. On the surface, it appears to be good news for Mmobuosi and Sheffield United. Sheffield Utd.
The audited headline figures show that Mmobuosi’s company, Tingo Group, has significant revenues. The tech firm is currently worth close to £6 billion. The company is said to have a $500 million (£400 million) cash balance and revenues just shy of £1 billion.
The Blades, as they are fondly called, currently compete in the second division of the English Championship, and they are hoping to get promoted to the English Premier League.