Nigeria are set to end their 11-year partnership with Nike and return to Adidas after the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) secured an $8.5 million-a-year kit sponsorship deal with the German sportswear giant.
The NFF says the agreement is the biggest kit sponsorship deal in African football.
Former NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, who resigned alongside the federation’s executive committee on Thursday, disclosed details of the deal at a press conference in Abuja, according to ESPN.
Under the agreement, Adidas will pay the NFF $4.5 million annually in cash and provide equipment worth another $4 million each year for Nigeria’s national teams.
The federation will also receive a 20 per cent royalty on merchandise sales, meaning the overall value of the partnership could rise significantly beyond the guaranteed $8.5 million yearly package.
Gusau said the contract had already been signed, although its formal announcement was initially scheduled for September.
“It is about the highest kit sponsorship in Africa. No other country in Africa has that kind of sponsorship,” he said.
Gusau said the new agreement represented a major improvement on Nigeria’s outgoing Nike deal, which he described as inadequate for the needs of the country’s national teams.
He said the 11-year Nike arrangement provided only $500,000 in cash and $1 million worth of equipment annually—terms that remained unchanged from 2015 to 2026.
“As [then] president, I cannot gift someone a jersey because we met a contract that has been running for 11 years on the same terms worth $500,000 in cash and $1 million in kit supply,” Gusau said.
“$500,000 in 2015 and still $500,000 in 2026. It is like you have nothing.”
According to him, the inadequacy of the deal became so severe that the NFF had to purchase additional equipment for some national teams, including the Under-20 women’s side that travelled to Poland for the World Cup.
“We have to buy jerseys for the girls that travelled to Poland because $1 million worth of equipment cannot even service Super Eagles qualifiers for World Cup and Nations Cup as well as Super Falcons,” he said.
Gusau said the federation began discussions with Nike in 2024 to secure improved terms but failed to reach an agreement.
“This was unacceptable to us as a country and we looked out and found that even countries that did not have our profile in football had better deals,” he said.
He added that Adidas’ stronger retail presence in Nigeria was another factor behind the decision to switch brands.
While Nike has only one shop in Nigeria, according to Gusau, Adidas has about 13 outlets, giving the German company a wider commercial footprint and potentially increasing merchandise sales and the NFF’s royalty earnings.
Gusau said the additional revenue would also strengthen the federation’s ability to hire high-profile coaches for the Super Eagles and Super Falcons.
“The issue of people clamouring for a high-profile coach for the Super Eagles or Super Falcons that we were running away from because we asked ourselves how we pay, will be a thing of the past going forward,” he said.
“The money will be enough for NFF to hire high-profile coaches for the Super Eagles and Super Falcons.”
Nigeria’s new Adidas agreement also appears to surpass Morocco’s current deal with Puma, reportedly valued at about $1.7 million, although comparisons may vary depending on whether cash, equipment and other commercial benefits are included.
Adidas previously supplied Nigeria during one of the most significant periods in the country’s football history, including the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations triumph and the Super Eagles’ first World Cup appearance that same year.
Nike took over in 1995 before Adidas returned as Nigeria’s kit supplier in 2004, remaining in place until 2014. That period included Nigeria’s 2013 Africa Cup of Nations victory.
Nike returned in 2015 and produced some of Nigeria’s most commercially successful and recognizable kits, particularly the Super Eagles’ 2018 World Cup jersey, which became a global fashion phenomenon.
The new agreement will therefore mark another major chapter in Nigeria’s long-running relationship with the world’s leading sportswear brands.
