Nneka Ede, First African woman to buy a European football club

First African woman to buy a European football club, Nneka Ede says it’s a pathway to develop young talent.

A Nigerian woman, Nneka Ede has made history as the first African woman to buy a European football club, after having purchased Lusitano Ginásio Clube, a 108-year-old Portuguese football club that is participating in Campeonato de Portugal, the Portuguese third division, after several months of negotiations.

Speaking at the acquisition ceremony, an overwhelmingly excited Ede, who spoke of the long-standing relationship between Nigeria and Portuguese soccer, disclosed that she wanted the club to provide a “pathway for young talent to develop and shine through“,

The extreme sports enthusiast who has been a football lover since childhood, was apparently delighted with the deal saying she was happy at the new chapter in the relationship with the club,and hoped the purchase of Lusitano will better the sporting relationship between Nigeria and Portugal.

I am excited about this opportunity and I hope that this new chapter will deepen the already great sporting relation between Nigeria and Portugal. And to continue with the rich history of Lusitano club and provide a pathway for young talent to develop and shine through. She said.

Though the purchase amount was not revealed, Lusitano Ginásio Clube confirmed that Mrs Nneka Ede had become its new owner in a recent statement, securing total ownership of the club after conclusion of negotiations in June 2020.

Part of Lusitano’s official statement about the transfer of ownership reads:

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.

Nneka Ede, the second Nigerian to own a Portuguese club, after businessman Kunle Soname’s purchase of Clube Desportivo Feirense in 2015, is a Nigerian businesswoman, currently working as a software developer and automation analyst for Chevron in Houston, Texas, United States.

Nneka who also has business interests in the oil and gas sector, is a graduate of Computer Science from Prairie View A&M University in Texas, the second oldest public university in the state.

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