The GTI Group, who are the Strategic Partners of the Euromatch Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), yesterday unveiled an ambitious five-year plan aimed at elevating the value of the Nigerian topflight league to be worth $20million.
Speaking at a media parley in Lagos yesterday, the Group Managing Director of the GTI Group, Abubakar Lawal, commended the arrival of Euromatch as the title sponsor of the NPFL after over a decade without such. However, following Euromatch’s $7.5 million title sponsorship commitment for the 2026/27 season, the GTI chief executive insisted that the NPFL is on the way to becoming the top league in Africa with the strengthening of the league’s commercial value, infrastructure, club administration, data management and digital content.
The GTI group managing director reiterated that the coming of Euromatch to Nigeria represents a strong vote of confidence in the NPFL. He therefore urged for more local and international businesses to invest in the domestic league.
“Your decision to invest in the NPFL is a strong vote of confidence in Nigerian football and in the enormous opportunities that exist within our domestic sports ecosystem and the economy at large,” Lawal said.
He said with Nigeria’s over 200m population, football culture and abundance of talent provided the foundation for the NPFL to become a major commercial sporting property.
Lawal noted that although the NPFL is currently ranked fifth in Africa by FIFA, the position should serve as a starting point for further development.
“Our ambition must be to build an NPFL that competes among the very best leagues in Africa and, ultimately, becomes a globally recognised football brand,” he said.
GTI, which began its strategic partnership with the NPFL in 2022/2023 football sesson, said the Euromatch agreement was evidence that its efforts to reposition the league were beginning to attract significant commercial interest.
The Executive Director of GTI, Nelson Ine, stressed the organisation had spent the early years of its involvement establishing structures and fulfilling its financial commitments to clubs.
“This is our fifth season. We have all the promises we made, we have delivered on them,” Ine said.
He described the arrival of Euromatch as a major milestone, noting that the agreement represented the first title sponsorship of the NPFL in about 15 years.
Ine said GTI was targeting further growth in the league’s commercial value, with an ambition to attract between $10 million and $20 million in additional investment.
“That is what we are saying — this asset can do so much for Nigeria. It is an asset, not a liability. If properly polished, run and delivered, we have seen what the rest of the world is doing with their own assets,” he said.
He also proposed a broader public-private partnership that could mobilise up to ₦50 billion over five years for football development.
According to him, the proposed investment would support areas including stadium infrastructure, player development, match production, data management and commercial development.
Ine also called for stricter enforcement of club licensing requirements, arguing that regulations would have little impact without effective compliance mechanisms.
“If you have laws and people don’t comply, and if you don’t enforce, it’s like you don’t have laws,” he said.
He stressed the need for improved football facilities across the country’s six geopolitical zones and stronger standards for NPFL clubs.
Data and content were also identified as key components of the league’s future commercial growth.