Shola Akinlade, co-founder of the online payment gateway, Paystack, has founded Sporting Lagos Football Club as part of a community effort he believes will develop the next generation of Nigerian sporting talent.
The club’s governing body will be led by Ekene Agu, a Paystack employee, Colin Udoh, a former Super Eagles media officer, and Fola Olatunji-David, an early stage investor and former Google employee, with famous names like Godwin Enakhena, CEO of Global Media, who will serve as the club’s chairman, and Uzo Okonkwo, involved.
Speaking on the reason for setting up the Sporting Lagos Football Club, Akinlade stated that the aim is to leverage football’s transformative power to connect people of diverse groups together and provide economic opportunities on a global scale.
The African fintech mogul said, “in the last few years, several platforms have emerged to provide opportunities for young Nigerians to perform at the highest level of excellence. Young Nigerians came together to turn technology, music, and cinema into hugely successful industries that command global attention, and we’ve built flourishing ecosystems around these platforms that benefit millions of people. In sports as well, we have a long history of individual Nigerians using football – and sports in general – as a platform to ascend to global recognition.”
Akinlade further stated that he will continue to devote his whole attention to Paystack and the development of African payment infrastructure. He is, however, committed to providing most of the finance required to establish the platform while also entrusting the full-time team to realise its mission.
During the press conference, the club’s chairman explained that the goal is to get to the Nigeria Professional Football League as soon as feasible (NPFL). According to him, the team’s stay in the Nigerian second division will be limited to a season before reaching the elite clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
“I don’t see myself as someone that wants to run an NNL team, we tried our best to get an NPFL team, but it didn’t work out. We are an NNL team for now, but we will not spend more than one season in the second division,” he said.
The Lagos-based club will play its maiden game in the Nigerian National League second division on February 12 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria, with intentions to rise to the first level in the coming years.
The club has also welcomed members of the general public to become Founding Members for a one-time payment of NGN 50,000 (about $100). You can find complete details of this on the website.
