{"id":12093,"date":"2011-12-13T06:05:54","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T06:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/arsenal-delegation-visits-nff\/"},"modified":"2011-12-13T06:05:54","modified_gmt":"2011-12-13T06:05:54","slug":"arsenal-delegation-visits-nff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/13\/arsenal-delegation-visits-nff\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal delegation visits NFF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"7\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mtnfootball.com\/content\/rvp~2.jpg\" width=\"270\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span>Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>A delegation from English Premier League club\u00a0Arsenal Monday visited the Nigeria Football Federation ahead of a proposed playing tour of the country next year.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>NFF\u2019s acting general secretary, Musa Amadu, received the delegation and informed them that football is an intense passion in Nigeria which some commentators even elevate to a religion at times.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>Amadu said: \u201cI heartily welcome you to our great football country, a nation of 167 million passionate football fans who come together and identify with themselves much better when the issue on the table is the round leather game.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>\u201cTwo years ago, Manchester United and Portsmouth delegations were pleasantly surprised at the reception they got from ordinary Nigerian ball fans in this country.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>While observing that\u00a0indeed, apart from Europe and North America, and some parts of Asia, Arsenal\u2019s most passionate supportership must be within Nigeria, Amadu urged the English club to be ready to provide advice to the Nigeria Premier League and technical support to some Nigerian clubs.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>\u201cThis visit, I want to observe, will definitely provide a strong platform for a much better relationship between the English Premier League (EPL) and the Nigeria Premier League (NPL).<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>\u201cIncidentally, the NPL are just returning firmly to its feet after protracted crisis and will welcome tips and suggestions on how to re-position powerfully for the upcoming season.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>\u201cIt is also important that I mention that some of our football clubs, particularly those in the Premier League, would welcome some form of technical partnership with Arsenal Football Club,\u201d said Amadu.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>Responding, Arsenal\u2019s marketing director, Angus Kinnear, said the delegation was overwhelmed by the support for the club within Nigeria was of the opinion that outside England, Arsenal\u2019s biggest fan base could be Nigeria.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>\u201cWe are pleasantly surprised at all that we have seen. Ours is a club with strong values and strong tradition, with over 20 nationalities involved, and we have a manager who values talent. We also believe in building strength rather than buying,\u201d stated Kinnear.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>Other members of the Arsenal delegation included Paul Johnson, first team travel and equipment manager; Shehu Dikko; former NFF general secretary Fanny Amun; member of House of Representatives Razak Bello-Osagie; David Omigie, John Okusi and Kelvin Ideha.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>NFF President Aminu Maigari was represented by executive committee member, Suleiman Yahaya Kwande, and there were also directors of technical and competitions, Emmanuel Ikpeme and Sanusi Mohammed respectively.<br \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>Also there were two ex-internationals, Siji Lagunju and Rafiu Yusuf, who presently work in the NFF technical department, as well as Nigeria\u2019s FIFA security officer, Gideon Akinsola.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie A delegation from English Premier League club\u00a0Arsenal Monday visited the Nigeria Football Federation ahead of a proposed playing tour of the country next year. \u00a0 \u00a0 NFF\u2019s acting general secretary, Musa Amadu, received the delegation and informed them that football is an intense passion in Nigeria which some commentators even elevate to a religion at times. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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