There’s huge respect between footballers and Nigerian musicians, two groups of people who shine in front of crowds. But do you know who your favourite famous Nigerian musicians support?
Mr Eazi supports Arsenal
It’s not been Eazi to follow Arsenal recently. The 13-time English champions are staring at a fourth successive season not finishing in the Premier League top four.
But Mr Eazi’s love of the Gunners blossomed in happier times, when there was love for the club across Nigeria. “You see when Nwankwo Kanu was at Arsenal, everybody that was living on my street were Arsenal fans,” he revealed.
The popular artist, who is helping establish more famous Nigerian musicians through emPawa, remains a big supporter.
He’s in London lots and hung out with Super Eagles star Alex Iwobi, Eddie Nketiah and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in 2019. The shared admiration was clear. Eazi saluted their ability to block out a crowd while Iwobi, now at Everton, shouted out his song Leg Over.
Burna Boy is a Man Utd fan
Like Arsenal, Man Utd haven’t been making many positive football news headlines in recent seasons. However, that hasn’t stopped Burna Boy from wearing his shirt with pride.
In 2019, he spearheaded a collaboration for a Premier League tribute track Leggo. In the video with Kizz Daniel, Mayorkun, Small Doctor, Kaffy, Zoro, he did kick-ups in a Red Devils kit.
Like most famous Nigerian musicians, it’s not unusual to find him commenting during sports events. After his team’s 3-0 loss to Barcelona in the 2018/19 Champions League, he asked: “Man Utd what happened?!”
Joeboy supports Man Utd too
Another famous Nigerian musician who can be found representing Man Utd is emPawa discovery Joeboy. His love for the 20-time English champions was inspired by one special player in particular.
He said: “Growing up, I followed the Nigerian football team and I started following Manchester United because of Cristiano Ronaldo. He was a young player doing it all: scoring goals, fashionable and making kids like me believe that you could reach your dreams.”
The manager at that time was pretty inspiring too. “The team as a whole had a synergy like no other winning trophies and trashing other teams,” he added. “Sir Alex Ferguson was also on top of his game with his tactics and matchday decisions.”
There haven’t been many trophies to celebrate at Old Trafford lately, but at least there was big Nigeria football news. Since signing in February, Odion Ighalo has become the first Nigerian to ever play for Man Utd.
Davido loves Chelsea
Like Mr Eazi, Davido has experienced the joy of hanging out with players from his favorite side Chelsea.
In 2016, he was snapped in the Stamford Bridge dressing room on the club’s Facebook page. Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, David Luiz, and Nigeria international Victor Moses were among those to pose with him.
Then in 2020, he met up with their latest generation of stars during their winter break in Dubai. He enjoyed the company of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori. Sadly, he didn’t seem to succeed in persuading them to switch international allegiance from England to the Super Eagles.
Olamide is a Barcelona fan
It’s not all about the English Premier League of course, as Olamide has proven by pledging his allegiance to Barcelona.
Like many other of the Nigerian musicians on this list, his historically great club haven’t celebrated quite as much recently.
The football news that hit him hardest was the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the 2018/19 Champions League. The Spanish side had led the tie 3-0 after the first leg. He described the result as being like a dream, before concluding “Barcelona for life still”.