Premier league gets gets sponsors

2002

Nigeria's second major telecommunications firm Globacom has won the right to sponsor the country's domestic football league.

"Globacom eventually won the sponsorship rights with a $2.3 million bid for a four-year period," said Nigeria Football Association (NFA) secretary-general Taiwo Ogunjobi.

South Korea's LG Electronics and Nigerian Breweries Plc were the other contenders.

"LG Electronics submitted a proposal of $1.5 million for a three-year period," Ogunjobi told BBC Sport Online.

Globacom recently won the licence to operate as Nigeria's second national phone carrier.

Salisu Abubakar, head of NFA's league department, said the sponsorship deal was subject to a review in 2006.

"The league will now be called Globacom Premier League."

The league had no sponsor last season, after Nigeria's Pepsi franchise holder, Seven-Up Bottling Company, pulled out.

Ogunjobi said the NFA and Globacom will sign the contract next week, when earnings that will accrue to the clubs from the sponsorship package would be announced.

"This new deal will definitely improve the standard of our league, which will now have lots of modifications and innovations," the FA secretary-general said.

Nine Nigerian stadiums used for the Fifa World Youth Cup in 1999 would be used for league matches. Clubs were expected to pay $700,000 to the NFA as registration fees. "All players must have insurance cover and will now earn a minimum monthly wage fixed at $200," Abubakar said.