Going by the happenings at the Heineken Trophy Tour held both in Lagos and Abuja recently, the assertion that football and music are like Siamese twins was solidified.
Though, meant to showcase the iconic Champions League trophy accompanied to Nigeria by football legend, Clarence Seedorf, music stars led by Davido added glamour and panache to the event. And like strike partners with the sole aim of banging in goals, the performances of Davido and Reekado in Lagos as well as Peruzzi and Lojay in Abuja were exhilarating.
Davido even demonstrated he’s a master of two worlds with his performance in the faceoff challenge in which he led the likes of Austin Jay Jay Okocha and Daniel Amokachi against Team Heineken captained by Seedorf in a five-a-side football contest.
Other music stars like MI and Darey Art Alade were also part of Team Davido, and they did exceptionally well with the former getting on the scorer’s sheet and the latter dazzling fans with his goalkeeping talents. In both Lagos and Abuja, fans were rewarded for their passion and knowledge of the game by answering questions about the Champions League.
A vividly excited Seedorf said, “We have the opportunity to bring this trophy close to those who never imagined or dreamt about getting close to the trophy. It’s beautiful to send that message to dream big, work hard, stay away from drugs and be a person that believes in himself, and this is how I came to realise my dream.”
Emmanuel Oriakhi, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries, captured the importance attached to the tour. “Heineken always has something spectacular for Nigerians, and once again, we are doing this. A lot of people argued that maybe the timing would have been more perfect concerning the disappointment Nigeria suffered a few weeks back. But we are resilient as a people and we are always positive and believe tomorrow will be better. For those of us still disappointed not qualifying for the World Cup, we have the UEFA Champions League. The UEFA Champions League is one of the best sporting events in the world and Heineken has been partners with UEFA for quite a while and in Nigeria, we have been activating this for a very long period.”
While this is not the first time the UEFA Champions League trophy will be coming to Nigeria, there were a couple of innovations that made this 2022 edition even more memorable.