Building Sustainable Football: Why Nigerian Clubs Cannot Yet Afford European Pre-season Tours

A few hours ago, I came across a post by Obanajos Continental Footy highlighting how some South African clubs are currently holding their pre-season camps in Europe, while many Nigerian clubs are preparing locally despite competing in the same CAF interclub competitions later in the season.

At first glance, it is easy to conclude that Nigerian clubs simply lack ambition. The reality, however, is far more complex.

Overseas pre-season tours are not merely about travelling abroad. They are strategic investments that expose players to higher levels of competition, improve technical preparation, enhance player market value, strengthen club brands, attract commercial partners, and create opportunities for networking with scouts, agents, and foreign clubs. In today’s football economy, they are as much a business decision as they are a football decision.

The challenge is that many Nigerian clubs are yet to build the financial capacity to make such investments.

Running a professional football club requires far more than assembling talented players. It demands sustainable revenue streams, sound corporate governance, strategic marketing, quality infrastructure, and a commercial mindset. Unfortunately, our football ecosystem still relies heavily on government funding, with very few clubs generating enough income independently through ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandising, broadcasting, and other commercial activities.

This is one of the reasons I have immense respect for the supporters in Ibadan. Unlike many centres where attendance remains a challenge, even when gates are thrown open free of charge, thousands of Shooting Stars supporters consistently pay to watch their club. Matchday revenue may appear modest, but club administrators understand how critical it is in offsetting operational costs.

With average attendances of between four and five thousand spectators, Shooting Stars arguably boasts one of the healthiest matchday cultures among state-owned clubs in the NPFL. Yet, even with some of the highest ticket prices among government-owned clubs, the revenue generated is still nowhere near enough to sustain a professional football club. Once salaries, logistics, security, travel, accommodation, stadium maintenance, medical services, administration, media operations, and other overheads are factored in, the numbers simply do not add up.

This is where emotion must give way to economics. Too often, discussions around football financing become politicised rather than grounded in financial realities. A simple question should guide every conversation: if these clubs were privately owned, would their current business models be sustainable?

Another important factor is the environment within which South African clubs operate. The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has, over the years, built a much stronger commercial ecosystem. Clubs benefit from significantly better broadcasting agreements, league sponsorships, commercial partnerships, merchandising opportunities, and a more structured distribution of centrally generated revenues. This financial stability allows clubs to invest confidently in player welfare, youth development, marketing, infrastructure, and international pre-season programmes.

There are valuable lessons for Nigerian football. The NPFL must continue evolving beyond match organisation to becoming a commercially attractive product. Better television rights agreements, stronger sponsorship acquisition, transparent revenue-sharing mechanisms, enhanced branding, improved digital engagement, and deliberate fan experience strategies will ultimately benefit every participating club.

The reforms currently being championed by the National Sports Commission deserve commendation. However, there remains an opportunity for broader stakeholder engagement involving club administrators, supporters, private investors, broadcasters, marketers, and football business professionals. Sustainable reforms are built through collaboration, not isolated decision-making.

Certain clubs and football ecosystems also deserve bespoke commercial strategies. Shooting Stars, for example, enjoys one of the most vibrant football cultures in the country. Matchdays at the Lekan Salami Stadium have become experiences that extend well beyond ninety minutes of football. That atmosphere should be intentionally monetised through premium hospitality, merchandising, sponsorship activations, digital content, tourism, and improved fan experiences. Likewise, major derbies and historic rivalries should be positioned as premium entertainment products capable of attracting national audiences and commercial investment.

It was therefore disappointing to witness a fixture of the magnitude of Rangers versus Enyimba being played behind closed doors last season. Such decisions diminish one of football’s greatest commercial assets, the supporters. Football is at its most valuable when stadiums are full, rivalries are celebrated, and fans become active participants in the experience.

Until Nigerian football develops stronger commercial structures, diversified revenue streams, modern governance, and a genuine football business culture, expecting our clubs to routinely embark on European pre-season tours is unrealistic. Such trips are not charitable gestures, they are investments that require sound financial planning and sustainable business models.

Nigeria possesses everything required to build a thriving football economy: passionate supporters, exceptional talent, historic clubs, and a football culture that rivals the very best on the continent. What we have lacked is the deliberate institutional and commercial framework to unlock that potential.

The conversation, therefore, should not be about why South African clubs are preparing in Europe while ours remain at home. It should be about how we build a football industry capable of making such decisions commercially viable.

When we begin to treat football not merely as a sport but as a serious economic sector capable of creating jobs, attracting investment, boosting tourism, developing communities, and strengthening our national brand, then those ambitions will no longer seem out of reach. They will become the natural outcome of a football ecosystem that finally works.