LAGOS, Nigeria, September 11, 2026/APO Group/ –African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com), through its Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) programme, and TopTier Sports Management, What Media Group, today announced plans for a landmark Legends Football Match as a cornerstone event of the CANEX WKND 2026 programme.

 




  

The Legends Football Match, scheduled for 8 November 2026 at Onikan Stadium, Lagos, will bring together football icons from Africa and beyond. The event celebrates the 30th anniversary of the legendary mid-1990s Super Eagles squad—commemorating their historic 1994 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) triumph, 1994 FIFA World Cup run, and their defining 1996 Olympic Gold medal in Atlanta.

As part of CANEX WKND 2026—Afreximbank’s flagship platform for advancing Africa’s creative and cultural industries—the match will showcase the link between sports, entertainment, and the broader creative economy.

The event is expected to attract significant interest from football fans, the creative community and the wider public, with local and international media also attending.

Speaking during the press conference, Temwa Gondwe, Director of Creatives and Diaspora at Afreximbank said: “The 1996 Super Eagles did more than win Olympic gold; they re-wrote the global narrative, proving to the world that African talent is an unstoppable force. Today, the intersection of sports, entertainment, and culture is the heartbeat of Africa’s creative economy. The Legends Game is more than a celebration of our glorious past – it is a strategic and formidable platform to discuss the future commercialisation and empowerment of African athletes and creatives globally.”

Chichi Nwoko Founder and CEO of TopTier Sports Management, What Media Group, responsible for the planning and execution of the Legends Football Games said, “Thirty years ago, a generation of Nigerian footballers showed the world what African talent was capable of. The Legends Football Game is our way of saying thank you to them, and our chance to ask harder questions: what are we building for this generation and the next? We want to build the infrastructure that lets African athletes turn a playing career into a lasting one, on and off the field; this is a huge gap that must be addressed. That’s what this partnership with Afreximbank seeks to achieve.”

The Legends Football Match will also contribute to the broader CANEX WKND 2026 objective of positioning Lagos as a leading destination for Africa’s creative industries and demonstrating the power of major cultural and entertainment events to drive economic activity, tourism, investment, and international engagement.

LONDON, United Kingdom, September 10, 2026/APO Group/ –African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com), the leading strategic project origination and collaboration platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa through the origination of bankable sport and entertainment district ecosystems, today announced the appointment of Kenny Jean-Marie to its Advisory Board.

 




 
 

Mr Jean-Marie served as Chief Member Associations Officer of FIFA from 2020 to 2024, leading the global governing body’s relationship with its 211 member associations and overseeing the development, governance and institutional support programmes that connect world football’s central administration to the national federations that constitute it.

In this capacity, Mr Jean-Marie oversaw FIFA Forward, FIFA’s flagship football development programme, which provides tailor-made support to all 211 member associations and the six continental confederations across infrastructure, coaching, national teams, competitions, grassroots football and women’s football. He led the launch of the programme’s third cycle (2023–2026), representing a total investment of USD 2.25 billion in football development globally — a milestone widely recognised within world football as critical to the advancement of the sport’s global infrastructure and development programmes. He also played a pivotal role in the successful establishment of FIFA’s Paris office, strengthening the organisation’s day-to-day proximity to its member associations.

Prior to FIFA, he served at the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) from 2017 to 2020, first as Chief of Staff to the President and subsequently as Director of Institutional and International Relations, roles at the heart of French football’s engagement with public authorities, international governing bodies and its own federated network.

Before entering sport administration, Mr Jean-Marie spent close to two decades in senior positions across French sovereign ministries, including the Ministry of the Interior, where he held territorial and central administration functions between 2009 and 2012, and the Ministry of Defence, where he served as a Naval Officer both at sea and in headquarters staff from 1998 to 2005. A graduate of France’s École Nationale d’Administration (ENA), he combines the rigour of French public administration with hands-on experience of institutional engineering and international governance.

A native of Guadeloupe, Mr Jean-Marie was appointed by the Fédération Française de Football in March 2026 as Préfigurateur of the future Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football, with the mandate to rebuild the territory’s football federation on new foundations following the judicial liquidation of the previous structure. His mission covers the construction of a sustainable financial architecture, the establishment of a transparent statutory and regulatory framework, and the restoration of trust between clubs, federations, public authorities and international governing bodies including FIFA and CONCACAF — a live and highly practical demonstration of the institutional reconstruction capabilities he now brings to ACG.

His appointment to the ACG Advisory Board brings to the platform a rare combination of experience across the operational governance of world football, the leadership of a multi-billion-dollar global development programme, the institutional architecture of a major national federation, the discipline of senior public administration, and the current, active reconstruction of a football federation from its foundations — capabilities directly relevant to originating and structuring large-scale sport and entertainment district projects across the African continent, where the interface between sport bodies, governments and international institutions is decisive.

“Kenny Jean-Marie brings a very particular and highly valuable profile to our Advisory Board — the combination of world football administration at the highest level, the leadership of FIFA’s multi-billion-dollar global development programme, the discipline and institutional literacy of French sovereign public service, and the current, active mission of rebuilding a football federation from the ground up. That combination is precisely what is required to originate sport and entertainment district projects that hold up under the scrutiny of governments, federations and development finance institutions alike. His presence on our Advisory Board reinforces the calibre of expertise we are assembling around ACG,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com), Founder and Executive Chairman of ACG.

The ACG Advisory Board provides strategic guidance as ACG originates and structures large-scale sport and entertainment district projects across the continent, aligning governments, development finance institutions (DFIs), investors, sport bodies and infrastructure partners to support the development of financially sustainable, mixed-use district ecosystems.

Africa’s sport economy is projected to reach $20 billion by 2035, yet the continent continues to lack the integrated district ecosystems required to support large-scale development. ACG addresses this gap by originating bankable sport and entertainment district projects, moving beyond single-venue development models towards mixed-use, revenue-generating and financially sustainable district ecosystems.

Through its collaborative model, ACG convenes governments, PPP authorities and regulators, development finance institutions, private investors, developers, designers and engineers, legal and transaction advisors, operators, sport federations and leagues, event promoters, media and broadcast partners, academic institutions and host communities, creating structured pathways from concept to feasibility, bankability and delivery.