Cashing in on Nigeria's national team jerseys

As the debate over the fashionable Nigerian team vis a vis its results on the pitch rages on, we take a closer look at the business deals that football associations take with platforms like the World Cup.

As the Nigerian jersey quickly sold out on the day it was officially released for sale by Nike on June 1, it was revealed that the American apparel brand received three million pre-orders for the ‘most beautiful jersey’ at the World Cup.

The stock-out was quickly exploited by merchants in Nigeria who sold counterfeit replica jerseys sourced from Thailand and China.

The $85 price tag for the original Nike kit was also a factor to consider in fuelling the spike in counterfeit jersey sales.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has previously warned against the negative effect that counterfeit sales have on its ability to negotiate lucrative sponsorship deals for the team, as they undercut sales for global brands like Nike.

Whether or not, this incident played out ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup will affect the future of the NFF-Nike deal remains to be seen.

What is sure is that the fashion sense of the Super Eagles hyped expectations for the team, which unfortunately lost its opening game to Croatia.