Not many people outside of the NFF know who
Jairo Pachon is, or what his company, Eurodata
Sports, does.

What people may remember though, is that prior to
2010, news that Nigeria was playing Italy in a
friendly would have been met with contemptuous
cynicism.
What was common was embarrassing tales of
cancelled friendlies, or haphazard arrangements
leading to coaches pulling random Nigeria players off
obscure clubs in little-known leagues, or even
random.
Nigerians off the streets to prosecute friendly
matches.
All that is history, and it is all down to an avuncular
Colombian working out of the London offices of a
family business. He tells KickOffNigeria.com all
about it

KICKOFFNIGERIA.COM: TO START WITH, TELL
US HOW YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NFF
STARTED JAIRO PACHON:

I started with the Nigerian Football Federation in
2008. I was working with the Colombian Football
Association as a match agent and that was when I
met the NFF officials.
From there I was involved in organising the friendly
against Ireland and then I did another game in Korea.
Then in 2010, I did Colombia against Nigeria in
London with another agent. But that agent defaulted
and the NFF contacted me and asked me to fix the
problem with the Colombian federation.
Between 2010 and 2011, the federation asked me to
come in and I said the only way that would work is if I
came in as an exclusive agent.
I said they needed to be able to work professionally
like all the other big federations, with one exclusive
match agent, and I would go ahead and represent
them and find games.
However, I said if I don't deliver in the first 6 months,
if I don't bring in enough games, they can penalize
me, or terminate the contract.
Since then, after the Argentina match in Abuja, we
have not stopped playing a match, both inside and
outside the Figa window.
I remember particularly when Stephen Keshi came in,
they needed to find him games to assess the home
players, and I remember we got Botswana, we got
Zambia.
Then later we played Angola and Egypt. I think Keshi
had like 4-5 games on non FIFA days to prepare the
home boys.
And in 2012, we played maybe over 10 games. And I
think that helped a lot the development of the home
Eagles.
All this showed when we won the African Nations
Cup.
There is nothing more difficult for a coach than to
have only 2 or 3 opportunities to get the players
together.

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO FIND MATCHES FOR
NIGERIA?

It depends on the situation.
But it's always difficult because the federations and
the promoters who work with the federations, they
look at the possibility of having a full house, at the
possibility of selling TV rights, at the possibility of
selling advertisements within the pitch perimeter.
And in that sense, it is something that we have to
work very hard with Nigeria. And I will tell you why.
In 2009, we brought Nigeria to London to play
against Ireland and less than four thousand Nigerians
came to the stadium.
Now we are coming back to play Italy. It has been a
long process. But we are champions of Africa and we
have almost qualified for the World Cup, so it
becomes interesting. They had three African
countries to decide on. They had Ghana, they had
Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
But during the Confederations Cup I had to be
lobbying, lobbying them. I spoke to the agent, I
pushed I pushed.
They said they were looking more at Ghana because
Ghana is a hugely supported team. They told me that
when Ghana played, there were thirty thousand
Ghanaians in the stadium. And when we played
Ireland, there was just a few thousand. But I told
them that when we played that game, there was no
good relationship between the fans and the team and
that things have changed.
And I really really hope that after the game on the
16th, when Nigeria will have qualified for the World
Cup, and with the help of the media, the fans can
come out and support the team in London.
SO IN EFFECT, YOU'RE SAYING THAT FANS

DETERMINE WHETHER NIGERIA GETS BIG
COUNTRIES OR NOT?

There is a lot of cost involved in organising friendly
matches, the hotel, the stadium, the local
transportation, the police.
So if after all that, you don't have people in the
stadium, why would you be going to lose money?
Now, look at this match. Italy are not playing in Italy
because they play Germany at home a few days
before. So two matches so close may not bring too
much interest. So they want to come go outside Italy,
which means they needed to have the agents and
promoters committed and their money paid to them.
It's a big commitment. I think there's only two sports
federations who don't have problems like that and
they don't need to go out and play. England because
they have great value for TV worldwide and they
have Sky and the stadium is always full.
So yes, the fans are always important. Because one
of the main things about the game is the
atmosphere, they motivate the players and they help
to sell the match.

ANYTHING ELSE?

What is also important is to have a star player. For
example, Ivory Coast have Drogba. That is another
key issue with Nigeria. We don't have one key star
player. I think we have a fantastic team, and I am not
trying to say that in a bad way, I am just talking from
a promoter's side, from a business side.
If Ivory Coast go somewhere, they have Drogba as a
star attraction. If Argentina go somewhere, they have
Messi, Brazil have Neymar, Portugal have Ronaldo.
But we don't have it yet.
We used to have Kanu, we used to have Okocha.
Those are the kind of players that make it easier for a
promoter to sell a team because people want to see
them.
Obi Mikel is a good player but he hasn't reached that
icon level.
I think we are going to have it, especially looking at
the Golden Eaglets. Isaac Success is a very good
player. Also Kelechi Iheanacho.
Once you become a big team, get big stars, get into
the top 10 or top 5 of the FIFA rankings then you get
better commercial opportunities.
But for now, with Nigeria playing a lot of games and
doing well, I think it's been great.

DOES THE FACT THAT OTHER COUNTRIES AND
OTHER AGENTS KNOW YOU HELP IN SECURING
THESE GAMES?

Yes it helps. Once people know you, and they can
trust you and know you can deliver and keep your
word.
You know Nigeria had a problem a few years ago
after a game that was cancelled. The contract had
been signed and the team was supposed to be there,
and it created problems and people did not want to
do business with Nigeria, because they say Nigeria
will not come.
But these people know me and how I do business. It
was not easy, but we worked hard to convince them.
Like Italy, I organized Italy and Ivory Coast in London
so they know me.
The Italian guy had working experience with me and
during the Confederations Cup we met again and I
started talking to them to set up this friendly, and it
took three months to convince the people in the
federation in Italy.

WHY LONDON ALL THE TIME? WHY CANT WE
HAVE FRIENDLIES IN NIGERIA?

I would be happy to bring the matches to Nigeria. I
think we have a fantastic, world class stadium in
Abuja that any federation in the world would be
happy to go.
But we need a sponsor, people to put the money to
bring the game.
Infact, this year, one of the main sponsors have
requested for a game in Abuja, but they haven't
come out with a final commitment to do the game.
Like I told you before, there is a lot of cost to promote
a game and without a sponsor, it will not be possible.
Until now, Guinness was the only one that provided
the commitment to do a match with the Argentina
friendly in 2011.
All the other games we have done in Nigeria, they
have been sponsored and paid for by the NFF to help
the team prepare. But that should not be so.
Nigerians want to see the likes of The Netherlands,
and maybe even Colombia now that Falcao is one of
the best strikers in the world.
But it takes a lot of money.

ANY CHANCE OF PLAYING ENGLAND SOON?

Yes. I discussed with England at the beginning of this
year. But they have a calendar that is really full until
March.
They have to decide on that game according to who
they get in the World Cup draw.

WHAT KIND OF REPUTATION DID NIGERIA HAVE
IN THIS BUSINESS BEFORE YOU CAME?

I won't call it a reputation, just little belief in the
agents. I give you an example. I was involved in a
game a few years ago with Colombia against Nigeria.
And the agent for Nigeria who I did the game with, he
arrived the night before the match!
As an agent, you have to be 24/7 with the team. If
anything happens, you have to be able to handle it
without making the team worry. So they can
concentrate on just playing football.
Maybe the food is not right, or the transfer doesn't
work, because nothing ever goes as planned.
So you have to be there to solve the problems.
If you as match agent or organizer is not there to
take care of these things, it's a problem for
everybody.
I think that was one of the problems before. The
agents just thinking they sign the contract, then
arrive a few hours and watch the game like fans.
You have to be at the airport to meet the team, make
sure all the rooms are ready when they get to the
hotel, check the transfer, attend to every little detail.
The big western countries they get this from their
agents, but most countries in South America and
Africa, they don't. And that is a problem.
Something else I do that I don't think any other agent
does in Africa or South America is that I help with the
youth divisions of the federation; the Under 17s the
Under 20s. I help them to find games, because at
that level, no one pays for anything.
But I always try to keep finding tournaments to help
them prepare. And help in other ways. Like during
the Under 20 World Cup in Colombia, I had one of my
brothers 24/7 with the team, to help them.
He was with them since Portugal, then to Panama
where there was another tournament.
We have the Under-17 World Cup for women in Costa
Rica, and we are looking for tournaments for them to
play to help the federation prepare them for the
competition.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF WORKING
WITH NIGERIA?

I love Nigeria. Getting to know the people, and the
friendships I have made. That is very important for
me.
Getting to know the football in Nigeria. Getting to
know the grassroots. I love seeing the grassroots
when I travel in Nigeria.
I always say South Americans and Africans we are
the same. The only difference is the colour.
We have very similar cultures and very similar ways
to approach life.

Culled from www.kickoffnigeria.com