Nigerian entrepreneur, Nneka Ede has become the first African woman to own a European football club after she bought Portuguese third division side, Lusitano Ginasio Clube.
Ede who secured 100 percent ownership of the club which last played in the Portuguese top-flight division in the 1950’s for an undisclosed amount, said her recent acquisition will help foster a greater relationship between Portugal and Nigeria.
“I am excited about this opportunity and I hope that this new chapter will deepen the already great sporting relation between Nigeria and Portugal.” She said.
“And to continue with the rich history of Lusitano club and provide a pathway for young talent to develop and shine through.”
A statement released by the club read; “After months of negotiations with different entities, an agreement has been reached with Mrs Nneka Ede, a sports enthusiast and entrepreneur from Nigeria, a country filled with people as passionate and fiery about football as us and which incidentally share the same green and white in their flags, towards the transfer of the ownership of the SAD to the latter that will help us in our mission to take Lusitano to the next level.”
Lusitano GC has been in existence for the past 108 years and the club never won the Portuguese first division title before they were relegated years back.And since their relegation to the lower division in 1950, the club have been finding it hard to return to the topflight. There are also reports that finance was one of their problems for years, which has affected their progress. This forced those in charge of the side to throw the shares open before Nigerian woman Nneka Ede bought the entire 100 percent shares.
