Nigeria is a football country. It is a country with many players and lovers of football. Nigeria is the 33rd according to FIFA rankings and have hosted FIFA tournaments. Nigeria is among the countries bidding to host the FIFA 2019 Women’s World Cup. This article looks at the benefits of hosting a FIFA tournament to the country. Developing countries now host FIFA tournaments. In the year 2010, South Africa hosted a World Cup tournament and New Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games. Brazil hosted the Olympic Games including the FIFA World Cup in the year 2016 and Brazil and South Africa are both developing countries. The communist nations are not left out as we can see Russia hosted the Winter Olympic Games including the FIFA World Cup finals of the 2018. Qatar will host the next FIFA tournament. Nigeria will benefit when they host FIFA in the following ways.
Youth development in Nigeria
Hosting FIFA tournaments makes the government to take youth development initiatives. The launching of many FIFA academies in Nigeria will develop a lot of youths in Nigeria. It will bring football closer to the level of the grassroots. Youths who play in Under 17 in Nigeria and the rest of them will benefit from football academies. FIFA academies will enable young Nigerians to prepare to play at the international level. The young footballers are gathered from the grassroots and are prepared by these academies.
Infrastructural development
The hosting of a FIFA tournament makes a government to embark on a setting up infrastructures. The government of Nigeria would have neglected this if they are not hosting the tournament. It leads to refurbishing of stadiums. Work for rehabilitation involves reconstruction of streetlights, dressing rooms, stands with different accommodation. It will lead to the setting up of more training centres. More stadiums will be reconstructed to accommodate the needs of hosting FIFA including lodges for FIFA fans. The government of Nigeria would not have thought of this if they are not hosting a FIFA tournament.
A lot of people argue that it costs much money to build infrastructures to host a tournament but it is better for the government of Nigeria to spend it that way than the diversion of public funds. Others say that the funds for such infrastructural developments are only useful for short term but you cannot say an area is developed without roads, electricity, pipe borne water and houses. The government of Nigeria will not tell the world to come to their country without inadequate facilities available for people coming from different countries to watch the tournament live from Nigeria. The Nigerian government will have to provide more infrastructures.
Increase profile
The profile of Nigeria increases when they host a FIFA tournament. Cities that host these tournaments gain more recognition after hosting. These cities in Nigeria are visited more often by tourists. Some countries that have human right controversies like China use this to improve their country’s profile. South Africa hosted the Football World Cup including the Rugby World Cup.
It was very significant for the country and this brought a lot of business investments and tourists. The World Cup had some impact on South Africa since it increased the profile making them more recognised in global affairs. Cities benefit too with much recognition.
Investment and jobs
Hosting a world cup tournament will have some impact on job creation in Nigeria. This will revitalise cities. Example the Olympic Games of London created up to 8000 jobs in London. When Nigeria hosts the next FIFA tournament, it will have some impact on job creation in Nigeria.
Economic benefits
A lot of people say that cities that host the world cup in a country will have to pay more tax than other cities. The government of Nigeria can something about this since they can regulate taxes imposed on cities. The economic benefits of hosting FIFA tournaments should not be underestimated because of taxes.
More consumption of local products
Hosting of a FIFA tournament will lead to the consumption of goods made in Nigeria by foreign nationals who troop in from various countries to watch the tournament live from Nigeria. This have some impact on the Gross Domestic Product of the country and can impact the economy of the country.
A lot of Nigerians prefer foreign products to the local ones because they see the foreign ones as the ones that have more quality. The government can do something about this by ensuring that only goods that are genuine and reputable are sold in the Nigeria market. However hosting of a FIFA tournament will encourage local consumption of goods made in Nigeria.
Money circulation
When there are more consumers in a country, it will lead to the circulation of funds among people since money moves from banks to people and from people back to the banks. This have some impact on the Nigerian economy. Injecting funds to the Nigerian market have some economic impacts. Consumption will increase due to more foreign nationals coming to Nigeria because
