BY SAB OSUJI

One of Nigeria foremost clubs, Rangers International, have unveiled a three-year kits endorsement deal with Afrinvent, Exclusivenews.com.ng reports.

 The deal is one of several initiatives by the new management of the club to shore up funds for the Coal City Flying Antelops and as well give it a distinct corporate and public image.

Presently, Rangers fly to distant away games and are seen adorning corporate suites.

 The Secretary to Enugu State Government, Professor Chidiebere Onyia, was top amongst dignitaries that graced the event.

The Group Managing Director of Afrinvest, Prince Ike Chioke, described the event as 'grand' and 'one that has been after my heart', adding that he has been following the club since his primary and secondary days in the city.

"Today brings to a fruition, six years of trying to bring professional partnership and support to a football team", the Afrinvest boss enthused. 

"Indeed, sometime in 2017, I prepared and signed a partnership agreement with Rangers but unfortunately, that deal did not see the light of the day.

"Having achieved that today, I'm ecstatic that I got the opportunity to do something with the club.

"You know, technical capacity is not what makes a team. You can have a group of young men who can play very well but the issue of how you take care of them, the medical, insurance, their traveling plans, and others, if not well handled, will gradually eat into the expected results.

"The Afrinvest coming behind Rangers, what we want to do, we came up with the mantra, ‘Finance meets Football’ to ensure that the footballers have all that they need to concentrate and play football. 

"It is our dream to see every football player in Rangers succeed professionally. This will no doubt form part of not only our Corporate Social Responsibility, but also build it around youth empowerment and development", the Afrinvest boss, who is also a financial investment expert said.

In his remarks earlier, Barrister Amobi Ezeaku, G.M/CEO of Rangers went down memory lane to capture the struggles that led to the formation of the club, with a lot of victories to celebrate the efforts of the foundation members of the club on the field of play.

Ezeaku described the sponsorship deal with Afrinvest as 'the best thing to have happened to Rangers in its quest to re-brand, re-organize, re-launch and rediscover the winning touch that Rangers is revered for'.

"Afrinvest and Rangers are on a mission to dominate Africa. We would dominate the world but that would be after dominating Africa", the young club boss started.

"Rangers and our new shirt sponsor, Afrinvest are two great institutions with great potential. We share a relationship. When finance meets with football, magic happens", Ezeaku emphasized.