Nigeria will switch from Nike to Adidas under a new kit sponsorship deal worth $8.5 million a year, the largest publicly disclosed agreement of its kind in African football.
Outgoing Nigeria Football Federation president Ibrahim Gusau announced the contract on Thursday, saying Adidas will provide $4.5 million in cash and $4 million worth of equipment annually for the country’s national teams.
The federation will also receive a 20 percent royalty on merchandise sales, which could increase the overall value of the package.
“It is about the highest kit sponsorship in Africa. No other country in Africa has that kind of sponsorship,” Gusau told reporters.
He said the previous Nike contract, signed in 2015 and providing only $500,000 in cash and $1 million in kits each year, had become inadequate.
“$500,000 in 2015 and still $500,000 in 2026. It is like you have nothing,” Gusau said, adding that the federation had been forced to buy extra jerseys for teams including the under-20 women’s side.
Negotiations with Nike for improved terms began in 2024 but failed. The American company held matching rights but was unable to equal Adidas’s offer.
The switch brings Nigeria back to a manufacturer with whom the federation shares a long history.
Adidas supplied Nigeria around the country’s 1994 Africa Cup of Nations triumph and its first World Cup appearance later that year before Nike took over in 1995. Nigeria returned to adidas in 2004 and remained with the German company through 2014, a period which included the Super Eagles’ 2013 Africa Cup of Nations title.
The new deal is expected to give the federation greater flexibility to hire high-profile coaches for the Super Eagles and Super Falcons.
