Star Lager beer, Nigeria’s leading beer brand from the stables of Nigerian Breweries Plc, yesterday announced a partnership with the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), to become the first official beer sponsor of the NPFL.

The event brought together stakeholders in the Nigerian football industry to celebrate a milestone in the country’s football history.

The partnership between Star Lager and the league will run for five years, beginning from 2015/2016-football league season to end with the 2019/2020 league season.

Speaking on the partnership, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Franco Maria-Maggi said:

“We’ll find ways to use this unique partnership of the NPFL to give our consumers more reasons to enjoy the local football. Football in Nigeria and Star Lager has a proud past, strong present and very bright future in front of them.”

The new partnership, which is expected to enhance the brand’s visibility, will also boost the profile of NPFL and the League Management Company (LMC), managers of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). It is expected to see a Star branded NPFL in the coming months.

Chairman of League Management Company, Shehu Dikko, said, “We are excited about this partnership with Star Lager, and we hope to achieve more from this with the support of all stakeholders involved. Having Star as a major sponsor will certainly be the key to a bright future for professional football league in Nigeria”.

The NPFL, like many important leagues across the world, needs big corporate organizations to support its message of youth empowerment – at least 700 footballers are employed across the 20 club sides in the league.

Nigeria’s foremost beer brand, Star Lager Beer announced its brand-new partnership deal with the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) at an event at Eko Hotel & Suites on Tuesday, August 23, 2016.

Tokunbo Adodo, Portfolio Manager, National Premium, Nigerian Breweries Plc; Nicolaas Vervelde, MD, Nigerian Breweries Plc; Nduka Irabor; Franco-Maria Maggi, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc at the partnership ceremony at Eko Hotel & Suites

“This partnership agreement with Star shows that there is opportunity for corporate Nigeria in our league and we hope that many more organizations will take advantage of football to reach their target markets as we continue to build an attractive league,” said Dikko.

The Portfolio Manager, National Premium, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr. Tokunbo Adodo further stated that:

“The idea is for our football loving consumers to relate with Star, as we become the first beer brand to be an official supporter of the NPFL and its teams. We can also show all football loving Nigerians in general, the brand’s identity including an all-new-range of possibilities which is now opened up to them by means of this partnership.”

However, because more than 70 per cent of clubs are still owned by state governments, player salaries are hampered by the financial challenges facing many state governments. Still, there have been more positives than negatives in the domestic scene, which has seen brand impressions grow digitally with increased interest. An average of 500 posts with 4 million impressions is made about the NPFL on Twitter every weekend.

It is the reason why STAR Lager Beer, Nigeria’s first indigenous beer, has taken interest in this growing local success story in order to push it beyond its current reach.

As part of the agreement, Star would also sponsor a Football League Feature Game that would bring in foreign clubs to face a league All-Star Team during its off-season.