My paternal cousin, a political scientist, Dr. Innocent Izamoje once said that if someone does or achieves what you have not done or achieved, you should congratulate such a fellow rather than envy him or her. And the Bible rightly said in Romans chapter 12 and verse 15 that we should share in the joy of others.

If I want to go by what Nigerians are suffering in the hands of some South Africans through the constant xenophobic attacks, I won’t write about their champion club, Mamelodi Sundowns despite their conquering feat in the just concluded Africa Champions League. However, I feel it is my responsibility to draw one or two lessons from them for Nigerian clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL, which are mostly government owned, to learn from.

In this regard, I will pick out the most successful club in the CAF Champions League, Enyimba International Football Club of Aba and compare it with Sundowns. I am neither an Enyimba fan nor one of its administrators but as a Nigerian, I want to compare it with Mamelodi Sundowns, especially as the South African club just achieved what Enyimba achieved 22 years ago. Established in the early 1960s originally as Marabastad Sundowns, it became an official professional football club in 1970.

However, when the club was sold in 1969 they changed the name from Marabastad Sundowns to Mamelodi Sundowns and officially relocated to the township of Mamelodi, to connect with the local community. In the process of growth and rebranding of the club, it went through several ownership and management changes until it came Dr. Patrice Motsepe who later became the president of the Confederation of African Football, CAF. Enyimba Football Club, on the other hand, was founded in 1976 under the old Imo State but later transferred to Abia State when the state was created in 1991.

That was six years after Sundowns started operating as a professional club in the Apartheid era. Enyimba rose to prominence in the 2000s under the civilian regime of then governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu who funded the club with Abia State government money. It is considered the most successful Nigerian football club as they have won two consecutive African Champions League titles in 2002/2003 and 2003/2004, including other local titles. In South Africa, Sundowns hold the record for the most league titles, 16 to Kaizer Chiefs 13.

They are the most successful club in the modern Premier Soccer League (PSL). On the continent, they won the CAF Champions League in 2016 and repeated the feat this year, a decade after. Enyimba are the only Nigerian club to have won the CAF Champions League and they did it in style, joining the clubs that won it back to back, Al Ahly of Egypt (four times), TP Mazembe of DR Congo (twice) while Enyimba and Esperance of Tunisia both did it once each. Sundowns’ victory this year makes them two-time winners like Enyimba even though theirs is not back to back.

That is the only point Enyimba could be said to have a slight edge over the South Africa champions who dub themselves the Brazilians of Africa. Now coming down to the reason for today’s piece. I mentioned that Enyimba was established by the old Imo State Government in 1976 but it was until the civilian regime of Kalu who took particular interest in the club that it started getting lavish funding. CAF president,? Patrice Motsepe took ownership of Mamelodi Sundowns in two stages. In 2003 he purchased a 51% controlling stake and a year later he bought the remaining shares to gain 100% full ownership.

He introduced a tradition of giving the entire CAF Champions League prize money to the club’s players, coaches and staff members. In 2016, he gave the squad and coaching team the entire $1.5 million, about N2 billion in today’s Nigeria. In 2021 when Motespe became the CAF president, he stepped down from the leadership of the club and his son, Tlhopie Motsepe took over as chairman. Ten years after, Mamelodi Sundowns are African champions again after beating Morocco’s FAR Rabat 2-1 on aggregate. And Tlhopie continued with the tradition his billionaire father started and has instructed that the prize money, now four times the former prize, $6 million, (about N8 billion) be shared among the players and staff of the club.

Wind back to 2003 and 2004 when Enyimba were back to back African champions, they reportedly got $2.5 million for each win, making a total of $5 million. Even though it was reported that CAF, led then by Issa Hayatou, delayed in the payment, the money was eventually paid. That was the last Nigerians heard about that money. They never got to know whether the players and their coaches got anything from it. Except the team got a slice from the money but never disclosed it, not the least the sporting media, who because of Enyimba’s feat, installed Orji Kalu Nigeria’s Pillar of Sports.

I am making this comparison because in recent years, Nigerian clubs have never made it far in any of the CAF competitions. Only Edo Queens came close in the 2024 season, when they crashed in the semi finals in the Women’s Champions League. Nigerians were excited for the team when they got $300,000 (about N413m) for their effort. Like in Enyimba, nobody knows if Edo Queens players and their officials received anything from the money CAF paid the club. If Nigerian clubs continue to demotivate players this way, how do we think they can gather themselves to put up a good fight when playing a team like Sundowns who their management motivate highly, not only with living wages but allowing them share all the proceeds of their sweat from participating in CAF’s competition.