Nigeria is bound to set an all-time record as the first country ever to stage a football event in the history of the Commonwealth Games should the African nation win its bid to host the multi-sports fiesta in 2030, Sports247 reports.
This much was disclosed by the National Sports Commission (NSC) chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko, who affirmed that the ‘unique selling point’ in Nigeria’s bid that was formally submitted at the start of this week at the Commonwealth of Nations headquarters in London was to have football included in the Games’ official roll call of events.
Read Also: Flying Eagles’ Captain Daniel Bameyi Admits: It’s Great Privilege To Represent Nigeria
Sports247 can confirm that football has never been part of the Commonwealth Games’ events, mostly because of the highly saturated calendar it is already battling to solve every year, and due to the global sanctioning body, FIFA’s determination to avoid having a parallel championship to rival the World Cup.
In effect, a major hurdle Nigeria would face is to find a new age-category for football at the 2030 Commonwealth Games and avoid clashes with other FIFA competitions, especially the Women’s World Cup, while also taking into consideration dates of the major European leagues’ seasons.
Nonetheless, Dikko sounded optimistic that Nigeria would get the Commonwealth Games High Commission’s nod to host the spectacle among former colonies of Great Britain, and he pointed out that it would lay ground for greater international impact from Africa’s most populated nation.\
Dikko expatiated, “We want to use sports to provide a foundation that will open up the country globally. That’s why we are not just bidding to host the Commonwealth Games, we are also in the race to host the 2031 Africa Games.
“Once we invest and host the Commonwealth Games in 2030, the following year, in 2031, the same infrastructure will be used to do the other one on a larger scale.”
Apart from touting football as a strong bait that could swing the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Nigeria’s favour, Dikko went on to outline a very elaborate sequence of activities and gatherings that would see Nigeria prepare itself structurally, logistically and administratively for the convergence of over 50 former members of the British Empire.
The former chairman of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) added, “We have already got the rights to host the 2027 Africa Youth Games, which would give us a test run of facilities for the Commonwealth Games three years later.
“Furthermore, we are not just thinking of hosting the Commonwealth Games in Abuja alone, we will try to take some events down to Lagos and other parts of the country.
“We have already proposed that, if we get the rights to host, we will put football matches in there. We will arrange for the football matches to be played all across the country; which would help other states to improve their facilities as well.”
Sports247 reports further that Nigeria’s high-powered delegation that formally delivered the Commonwealth Games bid included many esteemed personalities from the diplomatic sector, government ministers, entertainment icons and sports legends, among whom was Africa’s former women’s 100m record holder, Mary Onyali
