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Not a few people will go berserk if they have
a $1 million trapped in a distressed bank.
But that is not the case with Austin Okocha, captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, whose money is stuck in Societe Generale Bank. Though the bank management recently promised to pay the money, Okocha does not appear to be losing sleep over the matter. Okocha’s attitude may be a pointer to the fact that the money pales into insignificance when compared to his worth. For Okocha and his likes now earning megabucks playing football in the big leagues of Europe. It has been a classic case of from rags to riches.
As a young boy, Okocha was said to have hawked oranges on the streets of Enugu to assist his family before he discovered his football skills. He later joined Enugu Rangers, where he cut his teeth before travelling to Germany. “When I was 17, I was given the opportunity to go to Germany but I didn’t want to go there to become a professional footballer. My brother had a friend who played for a German fourth division team called Borussia Neunkirchem. I decided to go and stay with him. Then the club registered me and my football career began,” he stated recently on the BBC website.
But for football, only God knows what Taribo West would have become. West, who lost his father at a tender age, was a street urchin in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Ajegunle, Lagos. With crass poverty boldly visible in his family, any ambition of going to school was foreclosed as his mother could hardly afford to pay the bills. Realising his prowess in the round leather object, he played himself into reckoning and signed for a local amateur club. He later played for Rangers of Enugu, Sharks of Port Harcourt and Julius Berger of Lagos before he took his trade abroad. The stories of Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Julius Aghahowa, John Utaka, Joseph Yobo, Obafemi Martins, Finidi George and a host of others are not different. Aiyegbeni, who currently plies his trade for Portsmouth in the English premiership, admitted recently that growing up was difficult for him and his siblings as his mother had to sell soda, a local soap in new Benin market, Benin City to raise them. “I am not ashamed to say that my mother sold soda (local soap) to raise us because we were not born with silver spoon. Today, the entire family had forgotten about what we went through at the early stage of life. My mother is in a better position to narrate what we passed through when we were trying to make ends meet,” he stated recently.
For rave of the moment, Martins, who has been described as the “new phenomenon” by soccer fans at Inter Milan Football Club in the highly competitive Italian Serie A, he grew up playing football on the streets of Lagos, “I played for Churchill Oliseh’s team (Ebedie FC). Before then, I basically played jeun jeun football (at subsistence level) at Iman Square at Ebute Metta,” he said. It was from this amateur team, Ebedei FC, and with the support of Oliseh that Martins transferred his services to the junior team of FC Reggiana of Italy. There, he distinguished himself and was later signed on for $750,000 by Inter Milan for its junior team. His sublime performance at the junior team earned him a call to the senior team of Inter Milan, which he grabbed with both hands. And that was the beginning of his rise to stardom and wealth.
Indeed, football has become a money-spinner for those who are skilled in the art. Today, Okocha is reported to be on a weekly wage of $35,000 at his club, Bolton Wanderers of England. Before pitching his tent with Bolton Wanderers, club he captains the immensely talented midfielder has also played for Paris Saint German, PSG of France, a club he joined in 1998 for $17 million after his exploit in France 1998 World Cup. Nwankwo Kanu, popularly called the golden boy of Nigerian football, is on a weekly wage of £25,000 at his new club, Westbrom, also in England. The lanky striker who led Nigeria to her first and only Olympic Football gold medal until recently played for Arsenal FC of England where he earned a whopping £42,000 a week. Aghahowa, Super Eagles talisman who transferred his services from Insurance of Benin to Esperance of Tunisia for $50,000 after his exploits at the World Under-20 World Cup competition in Lagos in 1999 before moving to Shaktar Donetsk of Ukraine for $1 million, has just extended his contract till 2007 because of the juicy package. On Aghahowa’s worth, Renat Akhmetor, his club’s president, says, “I will not accept a bid of $15 million for Julius. He will stay at Shaktar for that amount because I know he is worth a lot more.” West, who is now in the twilight of his career on the oil-rich Qatar, has also made a fortune from football. At the peak his career, he transferred his services from FC Auxerre of France to Inter Milan of Italy for $3.2 million. There he reportedly earned $40,000 a week. He later played for AC Milan and Derby County of England. At Derby County, he earned £20,000 a week. Way back in 1993, Daniel Amokachi’s transfer fees from club Brugges of Belgium to Everton of England cost the English club £3 million. The Bull, as Amokachi is fondly called, was on a weekly wage of $12,000. The list of Nigerian players who have made it big financially from football is endless. Victor Ikpeba, George, Sunday Oliseh, Victor Agali, Aiyegbeni and Yobo rank among the wealthiest.
With the fame and celebrity status football has bestowed on them, such players have become marketing tools for major advertising agencies and their faces have thus become familiar in television commercials. And this too has become a source of wealth for many players. Aghahowa recently signed a contract agreement worth $270,000 with Globacom, Nigeria’s second national carrier, in a three-year deal. He was paid $90,000 for the first year. Kanu and Okocha too have been involved in different commercials for Pepsi Cola, Peak Milk, LG Electronic and V-Mobile. Other players are fast joining the fray as Yobo, Martins, Utaka and Aiyegbeni have also been involved in TV commercials and product endorsement raking in additional megabucks. Aside from these sources, the players also make money whenever they don the green-white-green jersey of the country. A win fetches them between $3,000 and $10,000, depending on the match involved. The bonuses are higher in major competitions like the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup. At the last edition of the African Cup of Nations, each of the Super Eagles players went home with over $30,000 for picking a bronze medal.
With such stupendous wealth at their disposal, many of Nigeria’s soccer ambassadors live atop of the ladder. Okocha’s fleet of cars includes a Bentley, S6000 Mercedes Benz, Porche, Carrera, Lexus jeep and Audi TT. This is aside from his fleets of cars in England. His houses in Enugu and Opebi, Lagos reek of opulence and magnificence. Kanu too has invested wisely in choice property in Lagos, Owerri and London. His house in Owerri, Imo State is an architectural masterpiece with ultra-modern amenities while the one in London is valued at £1.5 million. Kanu’s garage also boasts of state-of-the-art automobiles, including a Hummer jeep, Lincoln Navigator and Benz E Class, Aghahowa is another car freak. The cars at his imposing edifice at Parkview Estate, Ikoyi include a Lexus jeep, CLK Benz and a Ford Explorer jeep.
Okocha has invested in some companies and real estate at home and abroad so as to guarantee his financial security when he hangs his boots. He is also part owner of First Planet Communications, a telecommunication company based in Lagos. Jonathan Akpoborire, a striker who never had a great time playing for the national team, however, made good money playing for FC Stuggart and Hansa Rostock of Germany, and has invested in shipping business. One of his ships is MV Etireno. Tijani Babangida, a former Super Eagles attacker, has one of the biggest shopping malls in Kaduna, his home state. George, a gifted passer of the ball in his days in the Super Eagles, is as astute in business as he is on the pitch. His greatest investments are in real estate. Besides his new palatial house in Port Harcourt, he also has other houses in the Garden City as well as three others in Seville and Mallorca, both in Spain. “It is a kind of investment, a long-time investment for me,” he said recently.
Apart from their personal investments, some of the players have also learnt to give something back to the society. Kanu’s pet project, Kanu Heart Foundation, which he instituted after undergoing a heart surgery in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, has brought smiles and hope to otherwise hopeless children and despondent families. So, far over 50 persons have been operated upon with the foundation’s help each costing about N12 million. At a time, he brought in foreign experts who worked with some Nigerian doctors at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. One of the beneficiaries is Ehijie Ogbole, whom Tell had run a story where he appealed for financial assistance to enable him travel abroad for surgery. Ogbole says he will forever remain indebted to Kanu for restoring his health.
West may have been hard on marauding attackers but he has a heart of gold. The footballer cum pastor organised a friendly match in which he brought in some of the top stars, including George Weah to play a select Nigerian side. The National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos was almost over-stretched as fans trooped in, in their thousands. The gate proceeds were later donated to different charity homes in Lagos. And for years, West sponsored the Taribo West/Lagos State Sports Writers Association of Nigeria Football Competition organised among sports journalists in different media establishments to the tune of N250, 000 per year. And when there were crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone, West teamed up with other top players, including former World footballer of the year Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Weah to wax a song to save the African child and call for a ceasefire among the warring factions.
And for many others, they have had to donate to the local clubs where they first honed their skills. Yet, a few others like Benedict Akwuegbu and Mutiu Adepoju have floated football clubs with the aim of discovering the next generation of players who will step into their shoes.
With money coming from sales of broadcast rights, club merchandise and souvenirs, and endorsement of products of multinationals companies by football clubs and national teams, enough money is realised to offset bills and pay handsome wages and bonuses of players. Apart from this, clubs also make good money from ticket sales. These days, a match between top-rated clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United, both of England, or Barcelona and Real Madrid of Spain sometimes attract between 70,000 to 90,000 fans. Most times, the entire tickets are sold out. With money rolling in, big clubs are able to attract star players to their clubs who in turn guarantee huge spectatorship due to their sublime skills. Perhaps, nothing captures the huge success that football has become more than the view expressed by Joao Havelange, former president of the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA: “Football, today, involves some 450 million people around the world, with an annual turnover of $250 billion. Football has become an industry which is the pride of everyone.” The Okochas and Kanus of Nigeria are a living testimony of this declaration.
Additional report by Adesina Oyetayo
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