Nigeria will end its 11-year association with Nike and return to adidas, after agreeing an $8.5 million-a-year equipment deal that the Nigeria Football Federation says is the biggest in African football.
Former NFF president Ibrahim Gusau, who resigned along with the federation's executive committee on Thursday, revealed the agreement at a news conference in Abuja, saying adidas will pay the federation $4.5 million annually in cash and provide another $4 million worth of equipment for Nigeria's national teams.
The NFF will also receive a 20% royalty on merchandise sales, potentially pushing the value of the agreement way beyond the guaranteed $8.5 million annually.
According to Gusau, the contract has been signed but was originally scheduled to be announced in September and tops any previous deal signed by an African country.
"It is about the highest kit sponsorship in Africa. No other country in Africa has that kind of sponsorship," Gusau told reporters.
"Adidas will pay Nigeria $4.5 million every year in cash and then they will provide kit worth $4 million every year."
The $8.5 million annual package is the largest publicly disclosed current kit-supply agreement for an African national football federation, as financial terms of agreements involving some of the continent's biggest national teams are usually not made public.
Morocco's current agreement with Puma, is the highest publicly known figure, and is reportedly valued at $1.7 million.
Nigeria's new agreement also represents a substantial increase on its outgoing Nike contract, which Gusau said had become inadequate to meet the requirements of the federation's national teams.
He said: "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.
"$500,000 in 2015 and still $500,000 in 2026. It is like you have nothing."
Nigeria first signed with Nike in April 2015 after its previous agreement with adidas was cancelled due to breaches during the FIFA World Cup in 2014. Nike initially agreed to supply kits to Nigeria's national teams until 2018, with the relationship subsequently extended.
Gusau said the limitations of the existing arrangement had become so severe that the federation was purchasing additional equipment for its teams, including Nigeria's under-20 women's team for the World Cup in Poland.
"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 inadequacies of that deal prompted the federation to begin negotiations with Nike in 2024 for improved terms.
"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.
"These smaller countries, with less visibility than us, had better deals. And so we engaged Nike about getting an improved contract. This process started since 2024, going back and forth with them, but we could not reach an agreement because we could not accept what they were offering."
Gusau said Nike eventually allowed the NFF to solicit competing offers but retained the contractual right to match the best proposal.
"Finally, they agreed that we could negotiate with others," he said. "At the end of the day we contacted adidas and other kit sponsors and we were able to secure a substantial agreement with adidas.
"According to the terms of the contract, Nike has to match whatever we were offered. They were unable to match the offer from adidas and that is why we are moving on. The deal was to be announced in September, but I am saying it now because that contract has been duly completed, signed and it is going to be a great deal for Nigerian football."
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.
Nike's return in 2015 produced some of Nigeria's most recognisable kits, most notably the Super Eagles' 2018 World Cup jersey, which became an international commercial and fashion success.
The new adidas contract also contains a potentially significant retail component. Gusau pointed to adidas' larger retail presence in Nigeria as another reason for making the switch and said the company's planned expansion could increase the NFF's income from its 20% royalty on sales.
"Nike has only one shop in Nigeria. That is in Lagos. Adidas has about 13 shops, so they are visible everywhere," he said.
"And they have promised that within the next two years, they will expand that to 32 shops. Within that range, NFF will have 20% royalties from their sales."
Those royalties are additional to the guaranteed $8.5 million annual package, meaning the eventual value to the federation could rise depending on merchandise sales.
Gusau said the additional revenue would also give the NFF greater flexibility in recruiting coaches for its senior national teams, an area where finances have repeatedly limited the federation's options.
"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 do 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."