Nigerian entrepreneur, Nneka Ede, has become the first Nigerian woman to acquire a football club in Europe. Ede’s acquisition of Portuguese club, L
Nigerian entrepreneur, Nneka Ede, has become the first Nigerian woman to acquire a football club in Europe.
Ede’s acquisition of Portuguese club, Lusitano Ginásio Clube, Futebol, SAD, happened in 2020.
She is also the second African woman after Akosua Puni Essien, wife of former Ghana international, Michael Essien, to purchase Italian club, Como, who were a third-tier team in 2017 for 237,000 euros (£206,000) at an auction. However, Esssien’s ownership of Como was short-lived, and the club is now owned by an Indonesian consortium, Djarum Group.
This effectively makes Ede the only Africa woman who currently owns a European club.
Lusitano competes in the Campeonato de Portugal, the third division of Portugal’s football pyramid and Ede took over ownership of the 108-year-old club in June 2020.
Ede is the second Nigerian to purchase a Portuguese club after businessman Kunle Soname bought Clube Desportivo Feirense in 2015.
Founded on November 11, 1911, by a group of high school and commercial school youngsters, Lusitano – derived from Lusitania, the Roman name for the province corresponding to the current territory of Portugal, south of the Douro River and to the modern-day Spanish region of Extremadura – competed in Portugal’s topflight for the first time in the 1952–53 season finishing in seventh position.
The club enjoyed a relatively successful period in the 1950s and 1960s and spent 14 consecutive seasons in the Primeira Divisão earning an impressive 5th place in 1956/57 and reaching the semi-finals of the Taça de Portugal twice.
They were relegated in 1966 and have never competed in Portugal’s topflight ever since, but they hold a proud record of being in the top 30 of teams with the most presences in the Portuguese topflight.
Another Nigerian who purchased a football club in Europe is Shola Akinlade, the co-founder and CEO of Paystack. He bought the Danish club Aarhus Fremad. The 39-year-old bought a 55 percent stake in the 76-year-old Danish club, which plays in the second division of the Danish League, making him the majority owner.
