Enyimba International Football Club of ABA is one of the most popular clubs in Africa and the most successful team in Nigeria. The reason being Enyimba is one of the teams that makes African continental competitions so appealing to fans and the media.
Enyimba is the only Nigerian club that has won CAF Champions League, and they did so back-to-back in 2003 and 2004. Enyimba has played in the continent more than any other team in Nigeria contesting 14 times in the last 21 years.
Enyimba have since emerged as one of the most consistent African teams in Caf Champions League competition since 2002, contesting 11 times only missed two editions in 2009 and 2010.
Honours
CAF Champions League: Champions (2): 2003, 2004
CAF Super Cup: Champions (2): 2004, 2005
NPFL/NPFL: Champions (8): 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009–10, 2015, 2019
Nigerian FA Cup: Champions (4): 2005, 2009, 2013, 2014
National Second Division: Champions: 1993
Nigerian Super Cup: Champions (4): 2001, 2003, 2010, 2013
Media
Television stations would prefer to purchase media rights of Enyimba games. For Instance, SuperSports live broadcast Enyimba games 82 times in the last five years, far more than second place Kano Pillars with 38 live broadcast.
Enyimba has appeared more on the headlines and inside reports of most newspapers than any other club in Nigeria. Although, no real figures to support this claim, but most journalists we spoke to in and outside the country were uninaimous in choosing the ABA side.
Fans
Nigerian fans interest in Enyimba news, match attendance and television viewership far exceeds Kano Pillars, Rangers, Lobi stars put together..
In a football crazy country like Nigeria where most fans interest are in addiction following English Premier League teams and games. Only Enyimba games a quarter of the fans can watch on free days when the games doesn't concide with top European league fixtures: Chelsea, Man-United, Man-City, Real Madrid, Barcelona or PSG games.
Enyimba Fans Demography
Enyimba fans size is estimated to be in excess of 10 million active following across the country and abroad. Although, fans support clubs in Nigeria largely on tribal or state inclinations, but Enyimba manages to draw many fans support across the country, especially when representing Nigeria in continental competitions.
Fans Concentration and Income
Enyimba core fans are based in Ariaria market in ABA. They are mostly traders and business people with an average individual income of over NGN5 million per annum. They have the financial capacity to support Enyimba and to easily pay entry tickets to their games.
Stadium Ownership and Capacity
Enyimba is the only team in Nigeria that own a dedicated stadium, named after the club - the 25,000 capacity Enyimba International Stadium - with an artificial turf that meets FIFA standard rating. So advertisement and concessionary revenues comes directly to the club.
Financing
Government Funding
Enyimba is largely financed by Abia state government and philanthropic supporters. Enyimba has enjoyed good funding during the reign of Orji Uzor Kalu as governor of Abia state. But today Enyimba shares state funding with Abia Warriors, another NPFL club in Umuahia, that may have affected the kind of luxury they enjoyed during Orji Uzor Kalu.
Sponsorship
Perhaps, this is the most surprising factor about Enyimba FC. The team hasn't enjoyed any form of sponsorship despite its successes and constantly being in media spotlight. As a marketer, I would have thought that sports related brand would queque up for Shirt Sponsorship and other advertorial relationship with Enyimba. But that remain strange.
The only challenge I think is, there may be some bottleneck that scare brands away and indeed, Enyimba doesn't have an active marketing department that drive external revenue generation and may remove all the bottleneck that scare corporate brands.
Enyimba has all the potential to be viable financially and otherwise, but need a good investor(s) who can put all the business (commercial) structures in place.
