Exclusive: Osi Umenyiora explains why the NFL and African athletes are 'the perfect combination'

Two-time Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants Osi Umenyiora has taken his drive to create a new path for African talents to transition from a basic type of sports, no matter the background, to make it to the top echelon of the National Football League (NFL). 

The UK-based athlete who is of Nigerian descent is consciously taking the sports to the grassroots with his recent stop in Lagos, Nigeria where he held a series of clinics and camps that spanned over three days.

NFL in Africa

According to Osi, the easiest way to spot a talent that is shaped for the NFL is by discovering them during college games but has always maintained that African athletes are built for the sport - American football.

Osi who only moved to the United States at the age of 15 from Nigeria revealed the reason behind such a program and what they hope to achieve from the camp series.

“So far, the camps have been an incredible success. I think we've gone to quite a few different African countries now and every single time we've been able to get embraced by the community, by the countries,” he told SportsBoom.com. 

“Everybody's excited to see us out there and so just seeing the excitement that the athletes have and the players who are coming from the NFL back into Africa, just seeing how excited and happy they've been.”
 

Image Credits: The Falcoholic

Osi Explains The Drive

“Now the drive was really about finding a way to actually do some things in Africa. There are so many people who, you know, when they think of Africa, they think of just doing charity, maybe it's okay you know, whatever the case may be, but we wanted to do something that said we are going to give the people there the opportunity to help themselves.”

Also, we knew the amount of athletic talent that was in Africa and how these guys could actually use that talent to get an education or maybe even go to the NFL and make a lot of money for them and their families,” Osi said.
The current NFL Africa ambassador added that the organization was just focused on helping people with the initiative. 

“So, we wanted to do something that actually gives back to Africans and gives them the ability to help themselves and that was the motivation for us doing this initiative.”

Africans and the Sudden Interest in the Sport

Asked about the sudden interest by Africans especially Nigerians to play the sport, Osi responded with this clarification, “Well, I wouldn't say the interest has been sudden. It's just been exposed now. I think there have been a lot of Nigerians and people in general who have been watching what's going on in the NFL for a long time. They just wanted to find a way to connect but it’s been difficult to do that.”

“And I think bringing these camps and bringing this NFL back into Africa and showing that we're on ground and not just far away making claims or doing whatever, proving that we are going to establish ourselves here on the continent and give people here on the continent opportunities have made us receive more acceptance. Once Nigerians or Africans see that in general, then they become more inclined and more interested in the game.”

He further added, “sports for a long time have been by the way, essentially by Africans. If you tried to play sports when you were a kid and tried to take it seriously, especially in Nigeria, your parents would look at you like you were crazy or a good-for nothing except you are seen studying your books. Nowadays, people are seeing that this is a real way that you can make a living and change your life so people are more interested in it and I think that they should be because there are billions of dollars in revenue just sitting there in Africa wasting away and we have to find a way to utilize their talents by presenting these opportunities.

Image Credits: CNN

African Presence in the NFL 

With the league body creating an International Pathways Program (IPP) in 2017 to help expand the player pool for the sport from across the globe. The program was aimed at providing professional-level football training to athletes, many of whom have never played football before to get a look in.

Since the pilot program got off to start in 2017 with different sporting personnel from diverse sporting backgrounds going through the template, about 40 IPP athletes have featured in the league and at least four of the eleven players selected for this year's program are from Africa.

For Osi who retired from the sport in 2014 and became the lead personnel for the league's development and growth on the continent, launching a Nigerian-based program tagged as the 'The Uprise' was a perfect way to affirm his beliefs that the athletes from Africa and the sport were the perfect combination.

The program was designed to find the next set of players who would love to play in the NFL from the continent and it got off to a flying start with three participants of the program in Nigeria making it to the league in 2021.

The program eventually extended to Ghana in 2022 before making stops in Kenya and South Africa last year and according to the NFL, more than 130 players of African descent are in the league. Apart from attracting global talents to the NFL, there is a conscious move to also increase the fan growth in Africa.

Osi mentioned the likely destinations for the next set of clinics and camps in Africa.

"We really haven't made a final conclusion on that yet but we're still looking at maybe coming back to Nigeria or going into Rwanda, which would be a very big deal for us.”