Former Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick has opened up on the circumstances that led sportswear brands Adidas and Puma to walk away from their partnerships with Nigerian football, pointing to an alleged encounter involving three Nigerians as a key factor behind Puma’s decision to sever ties.

Speaking on Sunday Oliseh’s YouTube series, “The Pinnick Tapes,” Pinnick recalled being blindsided by Adidas’ exit announcement not long after he took charge at the NFF.

In response, he travelled to the company’s headquarters in Zurich in a bid to reverse the decision, but the trip ultimately proved unsuccessful. He noted that deeper issues, which he chose not to make public, had contributed to the split.

According to Pinnick, the sponsorship troubles extended beyond Adidas, with other partners including Globacom and Guinness also pulling out around the same period.

He further recounted a tense first meeting with Puma’s chief executive at the 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea, where the executive initially refused to engage with him simply because he was Nigerian.

Pinnick said the executive later revealed that three unnamed Nigerians had approached him at his home one Christmas, offering to end an Adidas agreement in exchange for personal demands, an episode that reportedly led Puma to cut all ties with the country.

Despite these setbacks, Pinnick said he pressed on, eventually securing a deal with Nike after trips to the U.S. and Netherlands.

He also disputed suggestions that his tenure caused a decline in sponsorships, insisting he significantly boosted the federation’s independent revenue instead.