Mobile football parks coming to Nigeria
By Kunle Solaja
A SEMBLANCE of Pele Football Park set-up in Lisbon, Portugal in the days leading to the Euro 2004 is in the offing in Nigeria. The mobile football village which will include about 22 football related products and equipment is the initiative of marketing firm, TQA and a United Kingdom-based Complete Football Marketing and Event Management Company Wall2Wall Futbol.
The UK-based firm is involved in organising football related events, exhibitions, road shows, selling 5-Aside courts as well as various promotional equipment for the football industry on a worldwide scale.
The project being introduced to Nigeria, according to Paul Singer of Wall2wall Futbol, involves the use of inflatable sports courts and tents intended to discover and nurture football talents in the country.
In the Pele Football Park, the inflatable tents were used to show video clips of some great moments of the World Cup.
In Europe where the concept is already popular, football celebrities are brought to teach young footballers the art of shooting and other football techniques.
One of such was the Pele Park which was managed by the world renowned football icon himself in 28 towns and cities in Portugal.
Other similar projects, according to Paul Singer, are the Nike Park at Wembley Stadium, London, Coca-Cola football promotions in USA, Poland and Nigeria.
The Nigerian version was tagged the Coca-Cola Street Challenge. Other similar activities are the Everton Football Club Fun Day in London, Davor Suker Soccer Academy in Croatia, the Nationwide Hotshot Road show in UK among others.
Since the project thrives more with the attendance of football celebrities who act as instructors on techniques to the aspiring future stars, Paul Singer said he has been in contact with Nigerian players in the English Premiership who may attend the programme to pass their techniques to the younger players.
Osayande Osunde, chief executive officer of TQA in Nigeria added that the project would further bring football closer to the fans.
According to him: "We are glad to be working with Wall2Wall because they are experts in sports related events and we stand to benefit from the partnership."
Paul Singer added that the relationship would bring some of the company's experiential marketing strategies to the Nigerian environment.
"We are bringing the best 5-Aside facilities to Nigeria for fans and young football enthusiasts to grow in all communities. It would also improve grassroots facilities and serve as a strategic approach to football development in Nigeria. Moreover, it offers a unique branding platform to potential sponsors," he said.
