Ahead of the highly anticipated final match between Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday night, Nigerians are lamenting the soaring price of Super Eagles jerseys.
On Friday afternoon, when The Nation visited some sports stores and boutiques around Lagos, a pair of jerseys that were sold between N10,500 to N13,000 last week—before the semi-final match against South Africa—skyrocketed to N28,000 and N30,000 without customisation.
It is cheaper at the Army Shopping Arena (Arena Market) in Oshodi, as the latest designs of the jersey are selling for N8,990 to N10,000.
“Oga, check the label. This is an authentic 2022/23 Nigeria soccer jersey,” a sales rep at VCN Sports Plaza, Ojuelegba told this reporter.
“This one no be Idumota or Aba made. Na corrects Nike Dri-FIT with sustainable materials. It is a real version worn by the players. I’m giving you for just 28k, excluding customising. If you want to customise it, you’ll add 3k.”
Surfing through online marketplaces, including Nike.com, the latest home and away jerseys are selling for between N75,000 and N150,000, depending on the size. On Jumia.com, some retro jerseys are on sale for N22,900 to N25,000 while the latest designs worn by the players against Bafana Bafana cost at least N28,000. On My Sporting Kits, they are offering old jerseys for N20,000 to N42,999.
Chibuzor John, Sales Executive at AllSportsWear, Yaba, said with the Super Eagle’s strong performances since the beginning of the AFCON tournament, there has been growing demand for jerseys, both old and new versions.
“We’ve seen sustained high demand for Nigeria jerseys throughout this tournament, so there’s a need for us to restock the jerseys for the final game, but the high rate of dollars makes the prices skyrocket.” John expressed.
Many football fans believe the resellers – both online and physical – are taking advantage of the final match to inflate the prices of the jerseys.
“I insist, most issues of many pricing in current Nigeria today na Nigerians just dey forecast am,” A football enthusiast, Ige Rotimi lamented.
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“Bought Nigerian jerseys over the weekend; by this morning, online sellers have added 15k to the previous price of the same retro jerseys, and we go dey blame Tinubu. I will not buy it again. Thank you.”
“Called Lagos today to place some orders, was told 25k (for a jersey). How much will I now resell? So bad,” another fan, Morakinyo HandsumChris said.
A young lady queueing to get her jersey at MegamacSports, Ojuelegba said, “Nigerians, we are the ones doing ourselves in this country. I bought two pairs of Super Eagles jerseys for my client last week at N9,700 each. Now, I’m paying double the amount to get a single jersey. We just like to punish and suffer ourselves in the country shaa.”
Tony Adewusi warned Nigerian football supporters to beware of fake jerseys when he said, “The current home and away jerseys are scarce in the market and online stores. It may be challenging to find them in the market. But you can still support our team with other green wears or retro jerseys.”
For Bayo Olaniyonu, the Nigeria jersey is the most south-after commodity in the whole world right now.
Reacting to Nigerians’ lamentation over the hike of jerseys, an online store, Jerseygramm101 emphasised that its company won’t tarnish its reputation by selling fake kits.
“Some people have asked us why our jerseys are not super cheap like 6k, 5k etc. There are levels to these jerseys but some people are not privy, we don’t sell those types and we don’t plan to. Our track record speaks for itself and we won’t tarnish it. we are the first international ecommerce sports store from Nigeria and our reputation is sacrosanct.”
