The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Supersport

  • Dalung urges Supersport to invest in grassroots sport

    Dalung urges Supersport to invest in grassroots sport

    SuperSport International has been urged, to invest more in grassroots sports development in Nigeria.

    The Minister for Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung gave the charge when he called on the Chief Executive Officer of SuperSport Brandon Foot, at their international studios in Ramburg, Johannesburg South Africa yesterday.

    In a meeting with the Supersport International management, Dalung urged Foot to assist in the development of grassroots sports in Nigeria through investments in training, facilities and programmes tailored towards helping young athletes in the country.

    “We are happy for the numerous sports programmes being transmitted to Africa through SuperSport Africa and sports loving Nigerians always look forward to watch their favourite footballers and athletes on your various channels. Through your variety of sports telecasts in football, athletics, boxing, rugby, basketball, etc, upcoming athletes want to aspire to be the champions they watch on SuperSport . I therefore implore you to take a step further by investing in grassroots sports development either through training the trainers or partnering with us to put up structures. This will in time produce high profile athletes who will make Nigeria proud in no distant time” Dalung said.

    In his response,  Foot promised to continue Supersport’s strategies towards sports promotion and sponsorship in Nigeria which already includes the Nigeria Professional Football league (NPFL), the DSTV men’s Basketball league, the GOTV boxing tournament and the community based mentorship programme ‘Let’s Play’.

    “SuperSport will support any initiative from the Ministry of Sports and we will mandate the General Manager Strategy, SuperSport West Africa  FELIX Awogu to follow up on this meeting and send us a feed back” Foot said.

    Earlier, the Minister had held a meeting with the management of the High Performance Center at the University of Pretoria after a tour of the center and the athletes’ accommodation and sought advice on how to replicate the facility in Nigeria. He also visited the Moses Madiba Human High Performance Institute in Durban accompanied by the Director Sports Medicine of the National Sports Commission, Dr Abdulkadir Mu’azu and Dr Femi Ayorinde of the National doping control center.

  • AFCON: No kid treatment for Chad – Akpeyi

    AFCON: No kid treatment for Chad – Akpeyi

    Super Eagles goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, has said the Chadian national team will not get any kid treatment from the former African champions.

    Eagles will meet against Chad in one of the 2017 African Nations Cup qualifiers at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, on Saturday.

    Akpeyi told SuperSport that the Super Eagles has trained well for the crucial encounter.

    “We are looking forward to winning the three points at stake against Chad in Kaduna on Saturday.

    “We expect a good game as every win is important in the qualification campaign.

    “Not at all, Chad will never be treated as underdogs, football has gone beyond the level you treat your opponents as pushovers,” he told SuperSport.

    “We are well prepared for the Chadians as the three points in the clash cannot be negotiated.

    “We do not have adequate information about their strengths but it’s quite possible they have full dossier and knowledge of us.

    “We learned Chad is coming with 100 per cent foreign-based players and not even one domestic player is in their midst.”

     

     

  • SuperSport GM urges club owners to do more marketing

    SuperSport GM urges club owners to do more marketing

    The General Manager, DStv/SuperSport, West Africa, Felix Awogu, on Tuesday urged clubs participating in the 2013/ 2014 DSTV/Men’s Basketball League to take advantage of the satellite broadcast to market their clubs.

    Awogu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the 16 clubs participating in the league should use the platform to source for funds.

    NAN reports that DStv/SuperSport, the sponsors of Nigeria’s Men Elite Basketball League, upwardly reviewed a four-year contract with the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) from N150 million to N218 million from 2013 to 2016.

    The league features 16 clubs – eight clubs from each of the Savannah and Atlantic conferences.

    “The basketball matches are broadcast on our cable channel, and we have millions of viewers throughout Africa. The clubs have the right to market themselves, most especially by their jerseys bearing the names of their sponsors.

    “They can also take advantage of their home games, collect gate fees and create avenues that will bring more fans to come and watch their games. They should be business-oriented and should not expect us to do everything for them,’’ Awogu said.

    According to him, in the previous season, Dodan Warriors of Lagos brought more value to themselves with jersey sponsorship.

    “Dodan Warriors, in the last season had sponsors of its jersey. We also heard they had some foreign connections that were interested in promoting them. Club owners should be busy doing business with their franchise because they also play a key role in developing the league and investing in young talents,’’ he said.

  • Ariwa shocked by Tenger’s resignation

    Ariwa shocked by Tenger’s resignation

    Akwa United defender, Emmanuel Ariwa has expressed shock at coach Justin Tenger’s resignation from the Uyo club.

    Although Tenger was known to be annoyed by a publication which reported his sack, his resignation took Ariwa by surprise.

    When asked of his reaction, Ariwa told supersport.com: “I am not aware he has resigned because we’ve been on holidays. However, I am shocked that he decided to leave. I am dumbfounded and speechless.

    “I read about him giving the club an ultimatum to retract a report about his dismissal, but I didn’t expect it to come to this. I’ll have to call him to find out what exactly happened.”

    The former Niger Tornadoes player said Tenger’s departure would be a big blow to Akwa United.

    “We may have battled relegation towards the end of the season, but you can’t blame the chief coach for that. We drew some matches we dominated out of carelessness, but we were able to get it right in the end. Tenger had built a strong side and would have been in the best position to fortify the weak aspects of the team. It may not be that easy for a new coach who may even decide to start all over,” he reasoned.

    Ariwa joined Akwa United last season from Bangladesh side, Sheikh Jamal during the mid-season break.

    Akwa United finished in 16th place in the NPFL, and reached the semifinals of the Federation Cup.

  • SuperSport deal will motivate more clubs, says Ekpo

    SuperSport deal will motivate more clubs, says Ekpo

    A former Super Eagles midfielder, Friday Ekpo, said on Wednesday that the SuperSport broadcast deal with the League Management Committee (LMC) would motivate individuals and organisations to own clubs.

    Ekpo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that more individuals and organisations would be willing to float clubs. He said that the new deal would increase the competitiveness and improve the standard of the league.

    The LMC recently secured a 34 million dollar broadcast rights deal with SuperSport. The deal is expected to run from 2015 to 2019.

    “ I must say a very big congratulation to the management of the league for being able to achieve that great feat. With this new development, more hands, more private companies and corporate bodies will like to have a team on ground.

    “ Because with this new development, they will want to associate themselves with what is happening in the football industry. So, I think by then the government will phase out or handover clubs to companies or corporate institutions to run the clubs on thier behalf.

    “And may add some percentage that will be remitted to them.’’

    He, however, urged the LMC to judiciously manage the project for the betterment of the league and growth of the sport in the country.

  • Azuka agrees three-and- half-year Esperance deal

    AFRICAN champions, Esperance have officially announced that they have agreed to sign on Nigerian international, Izu Azuka.

    It has been reported on the official website of Esperance that a three-and-half-year contract has been agreed with Azuka.

    The agreement between Azuka and the Tunisian club was finalised when Esperance played hosts to Sunshine Stars in a group game of this year’s CAF Champions League.

    Esperance have been tracking the Nigerian forward for a while before they finally agreed on a deal last month.

    The Sunshine Stars’ striker is expected to join the CAF Champions League holders in December this year, supersport.com can report.

    Turkish club, Adana Demirspor were also linked to Azuka, who rejected their offer of test games before being offered any contract.