annual football special edition poll report · p o l l i n g a n a l y t i c s d a t a b a n k s t...

P O LL I NG A NA LYTI C S D ATA BA N K S TR ATE G Y

Annual Football Special Edition Poll Report-August 2016 1 | P a g e

Annual Football Special Edition

Poll Report

AUGUST 2016

Disclaimer



This report has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the

subject matter of the document. NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document

accurately reflect its views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on

information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is

accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or

liability is accepted for errors or fact or for any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken as a

result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions or views herein

constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views

and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.



Table of Contents 1.0 Executive Summary .................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.0 Survey Background and Objectives ...........................................................................................................4

3.0 Survey Methodology .................................................................................................................................5

4.0 Demographic Distribution .........................................................................................................................5

5.0 Survey Results ............................................................................................................................................6

5.1 Nigerian Football Fan Base ....................................................................................................................7

5.2 English Premier League (EPL) Followership in Nigeria ..........................................................................7

5.3 Nigerian Fan base for EPL clubs .............................................................................................................8

5.4 Reasons Nigerians Support The EPL ......................................................................................................9

5.5 Perceived Nigerian Most Valuable EPL Player .................................................................................... 10

5.6 EPL 2016/2017 Season Winner Prediction ......................................................................................... 10

5.7 The Nigerian Premier League Followership ........................................................................................ 11

5.8 Rationale for NPL followership ........................................................................................................... 12

5.9 The Nigerian premier league clubs fan base ...................................................................................... 13

5.10 Reason for Supporting NPL Club ......................................................................................................... 14

5.11 The 2016 Nigerian Premier League Winner Prediction ...................................................................... 14

5.12 Recommendations To Increase The NPl Followership ....................................................................... 16

5.0 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 16

Table of Figures Figure 1: Demographic Distribution ......................................................................................................................6

Figure 2: Nigerian football fan base ......................................................................................................................7

Figure 3: Trend on football fan base in Nigeria .....................................................................................................7

Figure 4: EPL followership in Nigeria .....................................................................................................................8

Figure 5: EPL followership in Nigeria; 4-year trend ...............................................................................................8

Figure 6: Nigerian fan base for EPL clubs ..............................................................................................................8

Figure 7: Nigerian fan base for EPL clubs; 5-year trend ........................................................................................9

Figure 8: Reason Nigerians support the EPL ....................................................................................................... 10

Figure 9: Most Nigerian valuable EPL player ...................................................................................................... 10

Figure 10: EPL 2015/2016 season winner prediction ......................................................................................... 11

Figure 11: EPL title winner prediction; 4-year trend .......................................................................................... 11

Figure 12: NPL followership ................................................................................................................................ 12

Figure 13: NPL followership; 4-year trend .......................................................................................................... 12

Figure 14: Rationale for NPL followership .......................................................................................................... 13

Figure 15: Fan base of The Nigerian premier league clubs ................................................................................ 13

Figure 16: Fan base of NPL clubs; 5-year trend .................................................................................................. 14

Figure 17: Reasons for NPL support ................................................................................................................... 14

Figure 18: NPL 2016 winner prediction .............................................................................................................. 15

Figure 19: Trend on NPL 2016 winner predictions ............................................................................................. 15

Figure 20 Recommendations .............................................................................................................................. 16



1.0 Executive Summary

NOIPolls Ltd conducted its yearly football poll to explore followership and perceptions of Nigerians regarding

the English Premier League (EPL) and the Nigerian Premier League (NPL).

The poll revealed that almost half (49 percent) of Nigerians watch or follow football out of which the larger

share (72 percent) admitted following the English Premier League because they believe mostly that the EPL

clubs play good football amongst other reasons. Residents from the South-South zone represent the largest

proportion of Nigerians in this category. It is not surprising as the English premier league brings along high

hopes, expectations and admirations from various ages and races across the world1. Although, the

Blues (Chelsea FC) recorded the highest fan base in Nigeria (35 percent), the Red Devils (Manchester United)

were picked as the favorite to win the 2016/2017 EPL trophy. This could be influenced by the new signing of

popular players like Zlatan Ibrahimović, Paul Pogba, Eric Bailly and most especially Jose Mourinho as their

head coach. Most notably, Leicester City FC found its way onto the Nigerian EPL fan base prediction chart as

one of the least favorite to win the 2016/2017 EPL season after having a tremendous outing last season

winning the EPL title in the process.

More findings revealed that a larger proportion of Nigerians (59 percent) consider ‘John Obi Mikel’, who has

been with the Blues since June 2006 and survived 22 transfer windows to be the most valuable Nigerian

player in the EPL. Other Nigerian players that topped the chart are ‘Ahmed Musa’ (17 percent), ‘Kelechi

Iheanacho’ (8 percent), ‘Odion Ighalo’ (5 percent) and ‘Alex Iwobi’ (5 percent) among others.

Also, the poll revealed that 33 percent of Nigerian football fans follow the Nigerian Premier League mainly

because of patriotism and those who do not follow the league primarily reported that it is not entertaining

enough for them. Enyimba FC has the largest fan base in Nigerian and the club was also picked to win the

2016 Nigerian Premier League title. Most Nigerians request that the NPL engage with private sponsors, create

better publicity and branding, improve the officiating and most of all ensure that the NPL matches are

televised on local TV stations in Nigeria to attract more followership for the League.

2.0 Survey Background and Objectives

The 25th Season (2015/2016) of the English Premier League began on the 13th of August 2016 and ends on

the 21ST of May 2017. With this new season, once again hopes, fears and expectations are widespread in the

hearts and conversations of football fans far and wide. Leicester City is the defending champions. Burnley,

Middleborough and Hull City have entered as the three promoted teams from the (2015/2016) Football

League Championship. While, Newcastle United, Norwich City and Aston Villa were relegated to the

Championship League.

As the 2016/2017 English Premier League season progresses, the table will definitely reflect which club has

brought the best standards to the competition. While the 2016/2017 EPL season is still young with 35

matches to play out, it is note-worthy to state that the set of matches already played, have proven to be

unpredictable especially for the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea football clubs.

Manchester City rode their luck against Sunderland and had to fend off comebacks from Stoke and West

Ham; Chelsea relied on late goals to beat West Ham and Watford; and United were a tad fortunate to

1 http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10291127/when-does-the-201617-season-start-

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10291127/when-does-the-201617-season-start-



overcome Hull last time out.2 The fact that they have each won their first three matches have set the tone of

what promises to be an exciting season. Given that the trio of clubs haven’t yet reached their peak level of

performance yet still winning their matches is exactly why they should be feared and this summer some of

the best football managers in the world such as, José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte are joining

the Barclays Premier League. Likewise, many Premier League signings and transfers such as Zlatan

Ibrahimović, Sadio Mané, among others will contribute to turning this once again into one of the best and

most followed sporting competitions in the world.3 it will be interesting however to see what ensues at the

end of season, if it would be a total dominance by the trio or surprises springing up as was experienced last

season.

On the other hand, the 45th season of the Nigerian Premier League which began in February 2016 and is

scheduled to end sometime in November 2016, welcomed the Kano Pillars as the defending champions of the

2014 season. The newly promoted teams are Ikorodu United FC, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Football Club

(MFM FC), Niger Tornadoes and Plateau United FC. While Taraba United, Kwara United and Bayelsa United

and Sharks of Port Harcourt FC, were all relegated to the lower division league.4 Rangers FC are currently

topping the table with 54 points after playing 32 matches. The league table is likely to witness changes as the

competition reaches its conclusion in a few months’ time, given that Rangers FC is closely trailed by Rivers

United FC, Wikki Tourists FC and others Clubs in NPL.5

Against this background, NOIPolls conducted its fifth yearly Football Special Edition Poll to gauge the

perceptions of Nigerians regarding the English Premier League (EPL) and the Nigerian Premier League (NPL).

The first annual Football Special Edition Poll was conducted in August 2012.

3.0 Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted through telephone interviews. A proportionate nationwide sample of 1000 phone-

owning Nigerians, 18 years and above, were interviewed across the six geopolitical zones in the country. This

sample size provides a 95% confidence interval that the results obtained are within a range of plus or minus

3% of the opinions of the population. This means that if the survey is conducted 100 times using the exact

same procedures, the margin of error would include the true value in 95 out of 100 surveys. The interviews

were conducted in English, Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba languages. The use of several Nigerian languages

reduces the likelihood of a non-response bias.

4.0 Demographic Distribution

A total of 1000 respondents were interviewed in the survey. The demographic distribution of the

respondents is divided into the following groups: Gender, Age-Group, Geo-Political zones and Occupation as

illustrated in Figure 1 below.

2 http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/7-things-weve-learned-so-far-premier-league-season

3 https://netivist.org/debate/who-will-win-the-premier-league-2017

4 http://www.premiumtimesng.com/sports/football/193218-nigeria-premier-league-sharks-relegated-enyimba-crowned-champions.html

5 http://www.sportstats.com/soccer/nigeria/premier-league/



Figure 1: Demographic Distribution

Gender: The proportion of male and female respondents was almost equal with 51 percent and 49 percent

respectively.

Age-Group: The age-group with the highest frequency in the survey was 18-35 (65 percent), followed by the

36-60 age-group with (32 percent). The lowest age-group represented was the 61+ (3 percent).

Geo-Political Zones: All geo-political zones were adequately represented in the survey, the highest

represented zone being the North-West zone (24 percent) and the lowest being the South-East zone (12

percent).

Occupation: The largest proportion of the respondents surveyed were ‘Self-employed Traders’ (33 percent);

followed by ‘Government workers/Civil Servants’ (19 percent) and ‘Professional Worker’ (11 percent). The

lowest represented occupation in the survey is ‘Religious Leader / Missionary’ 1 percent.

5.0 Survey Results

Respondents to the poll were asked nine specific questions. This section of the report presents the findings

from each question.



5.1 Nigerian Football Fan Base

The poll sought to determine the percentage of Nigerians interested in football and analysis revealed that 51

percent of respondents nationwide do not watch or follow football, while 49 percent watch or follow

football.

Figure 2: Nigerian football fan base

Yearly trend analysis on the percentage of Nigerians who are interested in football from 2014 to 2016

revealed a significant 21-point decline in Nigeria’s football fan base. While poll results did not specify the

reasons for this, the figures presented may be an indication that Nigerians are more concerned with certain

socio-economic issues such as the state of the economy, security and transportation as well as the general

increase in the prices of goods and services which have affected their well-being and have become of more

priority to them; thus cutting down on recreational activities such as their involvement in football.

Figure 3: Trend on football fan base in Nigeria

5.2 English Premier League (EPL) Followership in Nigeria

Out of the 49 percent who showed interest in football, 72 percent of Nigerians acknowledged following the

English Premier League. More analysis across geo-political zones revealed that the South-South zone had the

largest proportion (89 percent) of respondents in this category, while the North-East zone had the lowest

portion (65 percent) of respondents in this category.



Figure 4: EPL followership in Nigeria

Trend analysis showed that majority of Nigerians followed that EPL more in August 2013 than any other year.

Figure 5: EPL followership in Nigeria; 4-year trend

5.3 Nigerian Fan base for EPL clubs

In determining the Fan base of the EPL by Nigerians, survey results revealed that Chelsea Football Club has

the highest (35 percent) fan base in Nigeria and this is closely followed by Manchester United Football Club

(31 percent) while 19 percent of Nigerians revealed their support for Arsenal Football Club.

Figure 6: Nigerian fan base for EPL clubs



Yearly trend analysis from 2012 to 2016 revealed that the highest support (33 percent) for Manchester

United FC by the Nigerian football fan base was obtained in 2013 when they won the EPL trophy. However,

the club currently stands at 31 percent in terms of Nigerian fan base, representing a significant 8-points

increase when compared to 2015 and this likely connected to the appointment of Jose Mourinho as the head

Coach of the club in May 2016.6 This increase in the club’s fan base clearly shows that there is a renewed

optimism among fans of the club.

Similarly, Chelsea FC experienced its highest support (42 percent) by the Nigerian fans in 2014 when Jose

Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge as the head coach. Though the club hired a new coach in July 2016, it

has had no effect on the proportion of its fan base in Nigeria as it remained the same as 2016. Also, Arsenal

FC recorded its maximum support in 2015 when Pete Cech was hired as the new goal keeper and also

possibly due to its winning of the 2015 Community Shield Cup on the 1st August 2015.

Figure 7: Nigerian fan base for EPL clubs; 5-year trend

5.4 Reasons Nigerians Support the EPL

The poll also sought to understand why Nigerians support EPL and results revealed that a larger proportion

(39 percent) of the fans that support the EPL believe the its clubs ‘play good football’ and respondents in this

category could be referring to the tactical formation or playing style of their various clubs. Secondly, some

other fans (17 percent) strongly believe that they have ‘good players’ implying that these clubs have quality

and experienced footballers, while 15 percent say they ‘just like the clubs’ in the EPL amongst other reasons.

6 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3610263/Jose-Mourinho-confirmed-Manchester-United-manager-three-year-contract.html



Figure 8: Reason Nigerians support the EPL

5.5 Perceived Most Valuable Nigerian Player in the EPL

Furthermore, in ascertaining the opinion of Nigerians on the most valuable Nigerian player in the EPL, the poll

results revealed that majority of Nigerian EPL fans surveyed (59 percent) considered ‘John Obi Mikel’ as the

most valuable Nigerian player in the EPL. Mikel has been with Chelsea FC since June 2006 till date as a

midfielder and has survived 22 transfer windos. This was closely followed by ‘Ahmed Musa’ (17 percent) and

‘Kelechi Iheanacho’ (8 percent) among others.

Figure 9: Most Nigerian valuable EPL player

5.6 EPL 2016/2017 Season Winner Prediction

Finally on the EPL, in ascertaining the views of Nigerians on the possible winners of the 2016/2017 EPL

Season, results showed that most Nigerians (45 percent) chose Manchester United Football Club as the

favorite to win the EPL title for the 2016/2017 season. This could be attributed to their new manager, Jose

Mourinho popularly known as ‘the special one’. This is also followed by Chelsea FC (28 percent), Arsenal FC

(14 percent) and Manchester City FC (10 percent) amongst others.



Most notably, Leicester City FC found its way on the Nigerian EPL fan base prediction chart as one of the least

favorite to win the 2016/2017 EPL season after having a tremendous outing last season winning the EPL title

in the process.

Figure 10: EPL 2015/2016 season winner prediction

Yearly trend analysis revealed that Chelsea has consistently been the top choice for Nigerian EPL fans

selected over other EPL clubs to win the EPL title for three years (2013 to 2015) despite a 15 point decline

from 54 percent in 2014. However, there is a retreat from this trend as 45 percent of EPL fan base in Nigeria

currently think that Manchester United FC will lift the EPL trophy for the 2016/2017 Season. This standing

represents 21-points increase when compared to 2015.

Chelsea FC, notwithstanding, is currently second in line to win the 2016/2017 EPL season, relinquishing their

position as favorites after having maintained it for the last three years. Chelsea FC fell short of the 2016/2017

season prediction ratings by 11-points. Arsenal FC has always been third on the prediction chart and has

maintained the position from (2013 to 2016), the club however suffered its first downward slip on the

prediction chart in 2016 as it represents a 14-points decline from 2015.

Figure 11: EPL title winner prediction; 4-year trend

5.7 The Nigerian Premier League Followership



The poll also sought to gauge the percentage of Nigerian football fans that follow the Nigerian Premier

League (NPL), findings revealed that only 33 percent of Nigerians admitted that they follow the NPL and

residents from the South-West zone (39 percent) had the highest percentage in this category Figure 12: NPL followership

The yearly trend analysis from 2012 to 2016 show that the NPL enjoyed its highest (51 percent)

followership in 2013, while its lowest (24 percent) followership was recorded in 2014. Currently, the

followership of the NPL stands at 33 percent representing a 3-point increase from the previous year.

Figure 13: NPL followership; 4-year trend

5.8 Rationale for NPL followership

Majority of Nigerian football fans who follow the NPL mentioned ‘Patriotism’ (45 percent) as the top reason

for following the NPL. Others say that they watch it because ‘they enjoy it’ (16 percent) while others do so

because they are footballers. On the contrary, most of the respondents who do not follow the NPL claimed

that ‘it is not entertaining’ (42 percent), ‘they don’t have time for it’ (14 percent) and that there is ‘poor

publicity by the media’ (13 percent) amongst other mentions.



Figure 14: Rationale for NPL followership

5.9 The Nigerian premier league clubs fan base

Subsequently, the poll revealed that most of the respondents who follow the NPL (33 percent) pledged their

support for Enyimba FC and this is accompanied by those who support Kano Pillars (22 percent). It is worthy

to note that there are more female (50 percent) than male respondents who support Enyimba FC, while

majority of the fans from the North-West zone (56 percent) support Kano Pillars FC.

Figure 15: Fan base of The Nigerian premier league clubs

Trend analysis indicates a 5-point increase in the proportion of NPL fans that support Enyimba in 2016 when

compared to 2014. This shows a consistent increase in terms of its fan base since September 2014. Contrarily,

Kano Pillars suffered a slight 1-point decline in its fan base when compared to August 2015.



Figure 16: Fan base of NPL clubs; 5-year trend

5.10 Reason for Supporting NPL Club

Most respondents who follow the NPL clearly indicated that they support their favorite club mainly because

‘the club is from their state of origin’ (42 percent), this is followed by respondents who stated that it is

because the club plays good football (22 percent) and 10 percent who mentioned that the clubs they support

have good players amongst other reasons.

Figure 17: Reasons for NPL support

5.11 The 2016 Nigerian Premier League Winner Prediction

Subsequently, most NPL fans (34 percent) picked Enyimba FC to win the 2016 and residents from the South-

West had the largest proportion of Nigerians with this view. This is followed by 27 percent who chose Kano

Pillars, whereas another 18 percent thinks Enugu Rangers who are currently topping the NPL table would win

the 2016 title.



Figure 18: NPL 2016 winner prediction

Yearly trend analysis shows that Enyimba FC remained the people’s choice to win the NPL trophy for the

second consecutive year, though a significant 6-points decline was observed. It is also worthy to note that

Enyimba FC was crowned as the 2015 NPL winners. While Kano Pillars also suffered a 3-points decline, Enugu

Rangers increased by a huge 12-points in 2016.

Figure 19: Trend on NPL 2016 winner predictions



5.12 Recommendations To Increase The NPl Followership

Finally, Nigerians who follow the NPL recommend that in order to increase the followership of the NPL soccer

games the NPL should ‘engage in private sponsorship’ (13 percent), ‘better the welfare of NPl players’ (10

percent), provide ‘adequate funding’ for the NPL (10 percent) and ensure that the NPL games are ‘televised

on local TV stations’ (7 percent) amongst other suggestions.

Figure 20 Recommendations

5.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, this poll has revealed that almost half of Nigerians (49 percent) either watch or follow football

out of which the majority (72 percent) follows the EPL mainly because they believe the EPL clubs play good

football and the clubs have good football players. Though Chelsea FC has the largest fan base in Nigeria,

Manchester United was picked as the favorite club to win this season’s title. Also, John Obi Mikel, was

considered to be the most valuable Nigerian player in the English Premier League.

Furthermore, only 33 percent of Nigerian football fans follow the NPL because of patriotism and those who

do not follow the league mainly reported that it is not entertaining enough for them. Enyimba FC has the

largest fan base in Nigeria and the club was also picked to win the 2016 Nigerian Premier League title. Finally,

most NPL followers are advocating for the NPL to engage private sponsors, create better publicity and

branding, improve the officiating and most of all ensure that the NPL games are televised on local TV stations

in Nigeria so as to attract more followership for the League.

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