Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: I'm tia Adebayo and this is the Next Africa Podcast,
Speaker 2: bringing you one story each week from the continent, driving.
Speaker 3: The future of global growth with.
Speaker 2: The context only Bloomberg can provide. Diasporan bragging rights were
Speaker 2: up for grabs in London last weekend as Jamaican and
Speaker 2: Nigerian football teams faced off in the Unity Cup, a
Speaker 2: friendly football tournament that brings together teams from Africa and
Speaker 2: the Caribbean in a celebration of culture, sport and shared heritage.
Speaker 1: The final will be between My God World.
Speaker 2: Re Byes.
Speaker 3: Nigeria Eagles.
Speaker 2: Twenty one years after its first iteration, this year's Unity
Speaker 2: Cup was a big ticket seller.
Speaker 4: You had closer seventy five percent capacity. I think, considering
Speaker 4: the time that we had and maybe she'll even looking
Speaker 4: back at how it's going to be marketed more widely,
Speaker 4: I think it disposed well for the future.
Speaker 2: On today's podcast, we're exploring the role of sport on
Speaker 2: the continent and beyond. Could the beautiful game become a
Speaker 2: bridge to diaspora communities and why might now be the
Speaker 2: perfect moment to market Africa to the world. While Jennifer
Speaker 2: is away reporting this week. I'm standing in to take
Speaker 2: a look at the roles sport is playing in African investment.
Speaker 2: And with me this week is Bloomberg's o La Tommy
Speaker 2: Wa Tobi in London and are a Bouja based reporter
Speaker 2: and Duko or Jimbo. So, Toby, you were actually there
Speaker 2: in person at the g Tech Stadium in London's Brentford suburb.
Speaker 3: Usually quite quiet, but I wasn't quite.
Speaker 2: This weekend because there was a very tense match between
Speaker 2: Nigeria and Jamaica.
Speaker 3: Tell us a bit about that experience. What was it like?
Speaker 1: Well, for different games than Nigeria plays, is the Nigeria Ghana,
Speaker 1: you'd call that Dijal Derby. For the Nigera Jamaica, some
Speaker 1: of us call it the planting derby because planting or
Speaker 1: planting you who knows, just the crowd, the feeling of
Speaker 1: the crowd being there, the quality of the football play
Speaker 1: to go straight to penalties, which is a game of luck,
Speaker 1: and then Nigeria one five for one penalties.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean it's twenty one years since the
Speaker 2: last Unity Cup. It obviously sounds like it was a
Speaker 2: big success, but can you explain a bit more about
Speaker 2: what the Unity Cup is and how it came about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the Unity Cup is a game that strives
Speaker 1: to bring nations, a lot of African nations but others.
Speaker 1: For this version, we had Afro Caribbean nations as well,
Speaker 1: and it tries to bring teams and face from these
Speaker 1: different countries football playing countries to sort of promote each
Speaker 1: other's strengths in team playing diversity, to celebrate each other
Speaker 1: as culture. It is a footballing event, but it is
Speaker 1: an event more than less. We had music, we had
Speaker 1: lots of food. There there was a variety we had
Speaker 1: for this very addition that was Trinidad and Tobago. We
Speaker 1: had Jamaica, Ghana and Nigeria. And like I said, we
Speaker 1: had the Jael of Derby, we had the plant in Derbi.
Speaker 1: So this was a game, a tournament that wasn't just
Speaker 1: football but using football as a medium to cross other
Speaker 1: things in terms of culture, to bring in communities together.
Speaker 1: Twenty one years ago was when the first edition, or
Speaker 1: the last edition rather happened, and it's taking a long
Speaker 1: time to get fas involved, getting teams involved, getting countries involved,
Speaker 1: and finding partners to work on.
Speaker 3: It as well, let's bring you in here.
Speaker 2: I imagine there's probably quite a lot of national pride
Speaker 2: in Nigeria this week and a Boujia tell me how
Speaker 2: big business is sport in Africa.
Speaker 5: I mean it's big here in the sense that you
Speaker 5: have this huge young population who are really interested in
Speaker 5: some of the biggest sporting events, so that would be
Speaker 5: like football, basketball, pigs of boxing and wrestling. But I
Speaker 5: think the challenge is that it's still viewed mostly as
Speaker 5: something recreation rather than really an opportunity for businesses to
Speaker 5: really come in on frive. And I'll give you a
Speaker 5: typical example here in Nigeria where we do have the
Speaker 5: Najera Professional Football League sort of your Premier League in
Speaker 5: the UK. And what you have here do are clubs
Speaker 5: are owned mostly by the government, you know, so it's
Speaker 5: a twenty team league and you have around seventeen of
Speaker 5: them owned by the government by state governments. You have
Speaker 5: governments been involved in foot book clubs and running basket
Speaker 5: book clubs, in running even volleyball clubs, and that has
Speaker 5: really been the challenge for invest us. We are looking
Speaker 5: to really coming to what they think it's a potentially
Speaker 5: big market if you look at the size of the
Speaker 5: audience that you know gather every weekend in front of
Speaker 5: TVs as a continent to watch, whether it is the
Speaker 5: English Premier League going into the top police in Europe,
Speaker 5: or maybe one of the fund races going on in
Speaker 5: any part of the world, or even the Tennis Grand Slams.
Speaker 5: You get a sense of how that can really potentially
Speaker 5: turn into revenue if it is tapped very well.
Speaker 3: But at a moment so while it's.
Speaker 5: Technically big, with not really seeing that come to the
Speaker 5: surface because of government involvements in it.
Speaker 3: Stick with us, both of you.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll talk more about the business
Speaker 2: of global sports and Africans looking to take advantage of it.
Speaker 3: We'll be right back, Welcome back. Today.
Speaker 2: We're talking about the business of sports as African nature look.
Speaker 3: To connect with diaspora communities.
Speaker 2: All I told me about Toby and Unduka or Jimo
Speaker 2: are still with me. So, Toby, you've been speaking to
Speaker 2: some of the organizing team behind the Unity Cup. What
Speaker 2: have people been telling you about the effort that it
Speaker 2: took to put this together.
Speaker 1: I spoke to and the house Sea of Afro Sports,
Speaker 1: the brain behind the Unity Cup. Really I had a
Speaker 1: conversation with him about why it's taking so many years
Speaker 1: between the last edition which was in two thousand and
Speaker 1: four and this current edition which happened over the last weekend,
Speaker 1: and one of the things he mentioned is definitely working
Speaker 1: with partners, getting the right people involved, and that the
Speaker 1: initial plan was to bring it back in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: actually before the COVID pandemic happened, which had to put
Speaker 1: a pause on the affairs, and then bringing it back
Speaker 1: sort of rekindling those relationships to try and bring it in.
Speaker 1: And in terms of support as well, he did mention
Speaker 1: one of the things about there was a big support
Speaker 1: from within the UK, the London team. We had the
Speaker 1: Mayor of London so that he can who was present
Speaker 1: at the event itself, and he helped really promote the
Speaker 1: event Brentford Stadium, like I said as well, where big
Speaker 1: players and also helping to promote the event. And also
Speaker 1: the the FA football administrators for each of the countries
Speaker 1: that participated by a big factor. And one of the
Speaker 1: key things so also noticed this event was also a
Speaker 1: FEEFAS sanctioned event, so it is an international friendly recognized
Speaker 1: by FIFA, so he's gotten the clearances even from the
Speaker 1: very top most football administrators, and these things sort of
Speaker 1: take a while to come together, especially when the initial
Speaker 1: plan was for the covid era. But the hope is
Speaker 1: to hopefully have another one next year. There is the
Speaker 1: big factor of next year is a World Cup year,
Speaker 1: so it will be a bit more difficult for logistics purposes.
Speaker 1: But the plan that he has would be in bringing
Speaker 1: this back on a yearly basis.
Speaker 2: So it seems like potential is really the name of
Speaker 2: the game when it comes to the Unity Cup. Perhaps
Speaker 2: next year will be bigger and better and Deka, I
Speaker 2: just wanted to bring you in again. So obviously this
Speaker 2: event was about football, which is a big cultural phenomenon
Speaker 2: on the continent, but what other sports saw Cultural events
Speaker 2: in countries like Ghana and Nigeria foster that diaspora connection.
Speaker 2: We talked a bit about music, about Afro beats. Is
Speaker 2: there anything else that's making those links?
Speaker 5: I think the regardias had a head staff. Pains me
Speaker 5: to say that as in Nigeria, but I think they've
Speaker 5: been tapping into that bastan connection for a while now.
Speaker 5: I'll say Nigeria is just only beginning to see the potential.
Speaker 5: And then there was probably last year in Legos was
Speaker 5: the first time that we really saw a huge influx,
Speaker 5: and I would say it was helped in lots small
Speaker 5: with probably by the evaluation of Nigeria's currency and then
Speaker 5: most of those that would have stepped back abroad had
Speaker 5: good value for them money when they came to Tuna, Nigeria.
Speaker 5: So around the holiday periods you really have people from
Speaker 5: the diaspora where I'm returning to gan and the government
Speaker 5: there has really done a lot to encourage that level
Speaker 5: of travel. I know they're planning an event in Legos
Speaker 5: and the success of what they had in December last year,
Speaker 5: there's a big event that the government is not getting
Speaker 5: involved in planning for December this year, just to strengthen
Speaker 5: those diaspora connections.
Speaker 1: I think it's a marriage between football and music, where
Speaker 1: music supports football and football supports music. For even within
Speaker 1: the football stair, you have Alexi Wobi who plays for Fulham,
Speaker 1: he is now a musician. You have a lot of
Speaker 1: the Nigerian football superstars, even the Ghanian superstars as well.
Speaker 1: You're always seeing them hanging out with a lot of musicians.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of musicians always hanging out with them.
Speaker 1: We have the Afro Nation being held in Portugal July
Speaker 1: ninety eleventh is also another avenue where African music, Afro beat,
Speaker 1: high life as you know it is being celebrated on
Speaker 1: the global stage and it's pretty much a diaspora audience
Speaker 1: that will be there every year. Ticket are always sold
Speaker 1: out way out in advance, and these are sort of
Speaker 1: the avenues not just football, but it's celebrating the culture
Speaker 1: in itself, celebrating the lifestyle in itself.
Speaker 2: So Toby, just thinking about the future, Now, where does
Speaker 2: this go next? I know you've been talking to some
Speaker 2: people that have been involved in the organization of the
Speaker 2: Unity carp and other big events like this. Where too
Speaker 2: next and how do you expect businesses to capitalize?
Speaker 1: Well, I think this guy really is the limit. One
Speaker 1: of the things that needs to definitely be worked one
Speaker 1: is getting more partnerships involved. I know one of the
Speaker 1: speaking to Andy House, one of the things that he
Speaker 1: said is convincing players really to come to represent their country.
Speaker 1: One of the sort of difficulties for the Unity Cup
Speaker 1: this year is a lot of clubs where st you're
Speaker 1: playing club football during that season. So on one side,
Speaker 1: for the community, many of the countries that took part
Speaker 1: in the tournament took a lot of their home based
Speaker 1: footballers to play for it. Ghana had a lot of
Speaker 1: Ghanyan FA footballers based in Ghana, same with Nigeria. Yes,
Speaker 1: there are a few superstars that played across board. So
Speaker 1: on the one side, there's a lot of homegrown talents
Speaker 1: that you're shipping out who are going to express themselves,
Speaker 1: and on the other side, a lot of the actual
Speaker 1: many of the regular first team international superstars see these
Speaker 1: events and say I want to be a part of
Speaker 1: it next year. They tell their FA they want to
Speaker 1: get more involved. So partnership is definitely a big side.
Speaker 1: But we've seen how partnership works. When it works, they
Speaker 1: have come twenty twenty three delayed and was played in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. We saw a partnership between the Confederation
Speaker 1: of African Football. We saw BBC get involved, Sky were
Speaker 1: involved being spots and about six thousand journalists applying for accreditation,
Speaker 1: which is more than double what was the number of
Speaker 1: the last AFGHON Because there's much more visibility with this partnership,
Speaker 1: so more people want to get involved, and when more
Speaker 1: people get involved, it shows in the numbers it shows
Speaker 1: in the last Afghan as well. One of the big
Speaker 1: games that was watching was the game between Ninjuria and
Speaker 1: South Africa. According to Patrick Mouzepe, that's the president of
Speaker 1: CALF saying nearly two billion people globally across various media
Speaker 1: platforms where watching the last African Coup of Nations. It
Speaker 1: shows that there is an audience for it. Sometimes the
Speaker 1: big problem is tapping in where the content is to
Speaker 1: that audience, and that's where the partnership's come in.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I'm excited to hopefully attend next year and
Speaker 2: do it and Tarby, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 2: me on the podcast Welcome.
Speaker 1: To Thank you, Tia.
Speaker 2: You can read more of our reporting on the business
Speaker 2: of African sport on Bloomberg platforms now. Also this week,
Speaker 2: President Trump announced new travel bands on a number of countries,
Speaker 2: including many in Africa.
Speaker 6: The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the
Speaker 6: extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of
Speaker 6: foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.
Speaker 3: We don't want them.
Speaker 2: We have full coverage on Bloomberg platforms now, including in
Speaker 2: the next African Newsletter. We'll put a link to that
Speaker 2: in the show notes Jennifer's Abazaja will return next week
Speaker 2: with a deep dive into the impact of these new rules.
Speaker 2: This program was produced by Adrian Bradley. Don't forget to
Speaker 2: follow and review this show wherever you usually get your podcasts.
Speaker 3: I'm Tawa, added Bayo. Thank you for listening.