Chisom Mbonu is a popular face on SuperSport channel on DStv where she presents football games. The youngest of a family of eight, four boys and four girls, she was born and raised in Enugu. An English language graduate of the University of Abuja, Chisom, in this interview told DEPUTY EDITOR, Charles Okogene, how her love for analyzing the beautiful game of football started, how she got employed as a presenter by SuperSport and the tough examination she took to become the first Nigerian FIFA licenced players’ agent.

Where did this your passion for analysing sports come from?

Chisom Mbonu : People always ask me this question and I dare say that when I was much younger as a child, I was faster than my mates. As far as running was concerned, I tried out sprinting; I was good but I had asthma and eventually, I couldn’t continue with sprinting. I ran up till I was about 15 years. But the truth be told, I used the asthma as an excuse now but I still don’t think I would have been a world class sprinter. I am not sure I had that talent. And I also remember that as a kid, my father and two of my brothers were very passionate about football; I am not quite sure I liked football at that time but I started liking football because back in the days, in the 1980s when I was still a little child, my brothers used to have videotapes of World Cup goals and it was just goals only. I started from watching the goals, which of course is exciting and which led me to what I am doing now.

Where then did you get the talent for analysing football?

Chisom Mbonu : Well, I think it started, like it is for most Nigerians, you watch the game, you go out, you meet people and you argue football. Sometimes I argue with people and lost out in the argument not because I don’t have the point or fact but because I did put them across the way I ought to. So what I did then was to go back read more, luckily there is internet now. Everyday, the first thing I do after my morning prayers, is to log on to the internet for the latest news in world football. It started from there and the fact that I am a bit eloquent also helped in sustaining my ability to analyse the game. That is a gift from my father because he made me read a lot of novels from when I was a kid; I am eloquent, my vocabulary is not the best but it is up to standard. So, I just wanted to beat everybody as far as discussing football and making my points heard were concerned. That was how it all started as far as being able to analyse football but being a female in the industry that is a tough one. What happened is that I am the first female FIFA licensed players’ agent in Nigeria. I got my licence in 2005. Truth be told, I never had interest in agency business but I sat down one day and asked myself ‘as a female, how can I get noticed in the industry’ because if I start going to NFF (Nigerian Football Federation) I have to go through the process of working in the ministry and I didn’t want to go through all of that. I wanted immediate recognition so I went online and kept searching and searching and came up with FIFA players’ agent licence and I decided to take the examination. I took the exam; it was very tough and expensive. Because I didn’t have the money, I spoke to my mother and brothers about it, my mother said ‘okay! If that is what you want to do.’ So, I took the exams and came out tops. I have to say that I was the only girl that took the exam for that year in Nigeria and I beat everybody else. I remember Oke Obi, the then legal officer of NFF said to me ‘so people actually study for this’ and I was like ‘yeah. It is an exam and I have to study for it and know how these things work.’ Even at the exam hall, Oke Obi said it that for the first time, a female has come to take the exam.’ Then when I passed, he equally said ‘for the first time, a female came to take this exam and this female passed.’ Then after I paid my licence fee and every other thing, that is how I got the recognition I needed. That is why when I meet people and introduce myself as a licence players’ agent they are like ‘oh! You are the only female agent they have been talking about’ which means that wordshave been going around in the sporting circle that there is a female FIFA players’ agent. I like to say that the licence helped me to get into the industry quickly.

When did you join Supersport?

Chisom Mbonu : I joined Supersport in 2007 as a freelance analyst and it was by accident. What happened was that I went to the National Stadium Abuja to watch a Super Eagles’ match and there was a qualifying Champions’ League match going on and Arsenal, Liverpool were all playing. I was with a friend of mine and a gentleman who I didn’t know then was head of Supersport Africa, came in and we all sat down, ordered some food and were discussing. The next thing I saw when the television set in the restaurant was turned on was one of the teams playing and it wasn’t the game I wanted to watch and I said to them, ‘men, I can’t eat, this is not the game I want to watch, I want to go watch something else.’ Then they said ‘what are you going to do’? I told them that I can’t eat dinner and that I will go to another place and watch. They thought I was joking and I left. The head of Supersport Africa was shocked that a lady will forgo dinner in order to watch a football match. So apparently when I left they talked about it and they told him how passionate I was about football and that was the time Supersport studio was about to be opened in Nigeria. He told them to bring me and let him see if the passion can come to the fore. That was how they invited me to the studio and the first ever broadcast from Supersport studio from Lagos, I was there with Charles Anazodo. I remember I had this big, masculine shirt on because there was no provision for the female at that time.

How do you prepare for each programme?

Chisom Mbonu : It takes a lot to be prepared; I no longer analyse football now, what I do is presentation. And I have a few people in the English media that I talk with; we are on twitter and facebook together and if there is any news I hear and I need confirmation I send them messages and they update me or I will go through the internet but unfortunately, not all that one reads in the papers are correct. So, I have to make sure that the information at one’s disposal is true and when I cannot confirm the authenticity, I play safe by saying that it is a rumour or speculation. To keep myself updated I watch football games all the time. Luckily for me we do the Italian Serie A, La Lgia, the German Bundelsliga (which I consider the best in the world for the entertainment factor), the French ligue and of course English Premier League. So it is difficult to get up to date if one does not watch the games all the time.

The biggest challenge I have is making sure that the information one has is accurate; this is so because we do not have direct access to the players. But luckily, I work in a conducive environment where everybody is free, though, it took sometime for me to be accepted by the guys in the industry. One good example was when some guys from Sudan came to Nigeria to buy some players for a club in Sudan. They got in touch with me and I was supposed to be the agent on their side while we were negotiating with the players’ agent here in Nigeria. When we got to one of the agents in Nigeria, he not only ignored me but said to me at the end of the negotiation ‘madam, it is my birthday today, can you go and call your friends so they can have a good time with us?’ and that was supposed to be a business environment. I looked at him, smiled and told him ‘unfortunately, I don’t have friends who just come to your birthday party even when they don’t know you.’

When we left him, the men from Sudan told me ‘you handled him well because all the while we were here he was trying to discredit you because you a female and eventually he did that by uttering such a statement.’ So, I face a lot of that over time. But I know how to handle such people. One keeps getting people who will not believe in one’s ability but the only way is to do what you are doing very well. I think I have gotten to that stage where people no longer look at me as a female in the industry.

How many players have you sold?

Chisom Mbonu : One direct deal I have done to a club in Dubai but the other deals I have done – about 10 players but not direct. What that means is that I am not the direct agent. It is one of the most difficult industries you can ever operate in. If you are talking to a club and once they hear you are from Nigeria, they hang up the phone. The only way they can trust you is when they see you physically or you have been with them for a long period of time for them to trust that you are not out to scam them. That is one of the biggest challenge I face as an agent; though, I don’t do a lot of it now because I am focusing on my media job. I have done a lot of indirect deal where I made money but I can’t disclose them because of the rules guiding it.

How lucrative has the job of a players’ agent been for you?

Chisom Mbonu : For me, it hasn’t been very lucrative. But that is for me. What happens is that when you don’t do a direct deal, you get a very tiny percentage of the percentage that accrues to agents. For the people I have worked with, most of them are street boys. I hope that one day I will find a Mikel Obi or an Obafemi Martins but unfortunately, the Nigerian sporting industry has gone down so badly that people who have raw talent are not properly developed at the grassroots level. Here in Nigeria a 16, 17 years old still needs to be taught the basic skills of football.

One would have thought that your dual personality – broadcaster and a FIFA players’ agent - would have been an added advantage

Yes, it would have definitely be an advantage if I wanted but like I said, agency business has so many angles to it that I cannot talk about now. It is a time consuming job because if you have a player, you have to travel with the player for trials, make sure he is doing what he is supposed to do properly, and if he passes the trial, stay with him to get his contract ready. Sometimes it takes up to a month.

Who foot the bills?

Chisom Mbonu : The direct deal I did, I took care of the bills but any club that wants a player will take care of the player’s expenses. That is the truth.

The direct deal you did was it on a Nigerian player?

Yes, he is half Nigerian, half Ghanaian and the boy hasn’t been successful at this point. I am sorry to say because in Nigeria, player’s welfare is not properly taken care of. That is why our players go out there for trials and fail.

What do clubs require from a player before he can be signed on that is aside his talent?

Chisom Mbonu : First is his football skill. How he reads the game, what he does on and off the ball. That is what they want to see first, after that his fitness level, whether he has any medical problem and this is where most of our players fail. African players have the raw talent in abundance but a lot of them take things that they shouldn’t take when they are here. They drink things they shouldn’t drink and that is why the fail trials. A lot have injuries that were not properly treated.

Let’s go a bit personal. What does style mean to you?

Chisom Mbonu : It means putting on what is comfortable on you. Something you will be free in.

If I have the opportunity of looking into your wardrobe, what am I likely to see?

Chisom Mbonu : You will see jeans, lots of jeans.

The thinking is that those who do not take care of their clothes are the ones that invest in jeans

And I say that is what I don’t like about men; men wear jeans twice, I don’t. To me, you wear jeans and you wash it. Men wear boxers twice, they wear jeans twice. For me, jeans is comfortable, it sits on you without making you look vulgar especially for the women because we have the bigger back side, we have the bigger hips. Most of the times you wear pants and the lines are showing, jeans gets that off while at the same time show off your nice figures. For me, jeans take away the vulgar side of dressing. So if you have jeans and the right footwear and upper wear, it looks classy at the end.

I am not seeing much make-up on you, is it by choice that you are not a make-up person?

Chisom Mbonu : Yes, it is by choice because too much make-up soils your shirt and that of other people when you hug them. I am not a make-up person, what you see is what you get.

What fashion item are you a freak of?

Chisom Mbonu : I collect lots of shoes, sometimes, if it is raining I feel like I should take off my shoes and go bare foot to protect them. I love shoes, I love red shirt. Red is chic, elegant. It brings class and elegance to my looks.

How much have you invested on any of these items?

Chisom Mbonu : The most expensive shoe I have ever bought was N42, 000. The most I have spent on a bag, though, I am not a bag person, was N50, 000 and that was in 2003, a Fendi bag. The highest I have spent on a shirt was N20, 000. I don’t spend a lot on shirts or shoes, what I buy when I travel out are football booths, football DVDs, posters. I spend a lot of money buying books on footballers.

TV girls often complain of advances from male viewers, how much of this have you experienced?

Chisom Mbonu : I get that a lot; but you know what they say, ‘what you don’t have is more exciting and when you have it, after a while diminishing returns set in.’ I get a lot of that especially on facebook; I get 50 to 100 mails asking for my personal numbers. To me it doesn’t mean anything.

So when is Chisom looking forward to saying ‘I do’?

Chisom Mbonu : If it happens today, why not? Like every other Nigerian woman, I am looking forward to meeting the right guy and hopefully, God will bring the right person because it is a life time thing. All my siblings are married, my brother before me married at 26 so they are waiting on me but they also do not want me to make a mistake. My brother tells me ‘take your time, do not rush.’

What is the quality you look out for in a man?

First of all, God fearing. I know that is a cliché but the truth is that a God fearing man has a conscience. Secondly, slim on the physical side.