As Nigeria made their way through the group stages at the Africa Cup of Nations, the official Super Eagles sponsors Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, made it a double celebration when it recorded a world record with the unveiling the world’s largest football jersey.
The jersey was measured (by the quantity surveying firm, Billings Cost Associates and checked by the audit firm, Alexander Forbes) at 249.9ft by 275.58ft, setting a new world record and beating the previous world record of 234ft 1in by 259ft 8in set by Avea, the Turkish mobile telephone operator in Istanbul in April 2009.
The jersey is “considered by football lovers as capable of boosting the morale of the Nigerian team” reports Raheem Akingbolu in ThisDay http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/promoting-super-eagles-with-the-largest-football-jersey/137882/ and, according to brand analysts, will position Guinness Foreign Extra Stout as “a truly Nigerian brand”.
Austin Ufomba, Marketing and Innovation director of Guinness Nigeria said: “We are extremely glad to be at the centre of this remarkable feat, putting Nigeria on the global map and rallying the support of millions of Nigerian fans for our dear national team.
“We are passionate about the Super Eagles and our greatest desire is to see them excel at AFCON 2013 that is why we have decided to galvanise the support of millions of Nigerian fans in this most unique way.”
Deji Tinubu, Head of the Marketing Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, said “We believe this support for the Super Eagles by their fans at this period will spur the team on and encourage them to do more.”
The climax of the event came as the Marketing Manager for Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Obinna Anyalebechi, encouraged fans to support the Super Eagles by writing goodwill messages on jersey saying: “We want to encourage all Super Eagles fans and lovers of football to come out en-masse and put their signatures on the jersey. This is history in the making and a rare chance to send personal goodwill messages to the team in South Africa.”
Raheem Akingbolu continues the story, “In a jiffy, hundreds of Nigerians present at the event surged forward with customised markers and marched on towards the jersey to append their signature and expressed their goodwill message.”
Guinness Foreign Extra Stout has been the lead sponsor of the Super Eagles for over five years, and the ‘Fly with the Eagles’ campaign has also seen 200 fans win all-expenses paid trips to South Africa.
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