Why former New York Giants star Osi Umenyiora sees a future for football in Africa

New York Times

8 hours ago

Osi Umenyiora always wanted to give back.
During his time in New York, which encompassed those two Super Bowl wins by the gutsy Giants over the mighty New England Patriots, Umenyiora was a thoughtful teammate who would pass knowledge on to the next generation.
The All-Pro defensive end not only shared tips on technique, but also off-field matters, too. He would cite his mistakes as examples for others to learn from and use his business administration degree from Troy to advise on financial matters.
Nowadays, the man once described by a teammate as 'one of the most interesting people you could ever meet,' is trying to inspire a continent.
Perhaps the clue is in his name. In the Igbo language, spoken mainly in southeastern Nigeria where the two-time Super Bowl champion spent his formative years, Ositadimma means: 'From today, things will be good.'
What started as a personal passion — he began the NFL-supported African-based scouting program The Uprise in 2020 alongside former Nigeria basketball player Ejike Ugboaja — led to Umenyiora becoming the NFL's lead ambassador in Africa. Since 2022, he has attended annual camps in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana and this month heads to Egypt.
Advertisement
'Realistically, it was just a recognition that I had been given this opportunity, and there were so many different talented athletes in Africa who weren't able to utilize their abilities to fulfill their potential,' the 43-year-old tells The Athletic.
'And so, rather than going there and doing the usual things that people do when they go to Africa — you know, the charity and all that type of stuff — why don't we find a way to give people the opportunity to help themselves in a way that can be helpful to other people, so everybody wins?'
Traditionally a stronghold for soccer and basketball, Nigeria is seeing explosive growth in football. According to the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), Nigeria has leagues in 13 of its 36 states, with the Nigerian American Football Association aiming to increase that to 20 by 2030.
'It's wild. If you go to Nigeria now there's several flag football leagues, not just one,' Umenyiora said. 'That's the incredible thing about Africa. You show them some hope and they usually take full advantage of that.
'We're just looking to keep moving around Africa, keep giving the same opportunities to different athletes everywhere, and also grow the game of flag football, which we think is going to be the centerpiece of the evolution of the game in Africa.'
During talent identification camps, participants undertake combine-style drills and flag activities. Last year, 21 athletes from 10 countries participated in the three-day camp in Accra, Ghana. Those who shine have the chance to be selected for a place at the NFL Academy in Loughborough, England, or on the NFL's International Player Pathway Program. Emmanuel Okoye was a former basketball player who was discovered in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2022 and went on to attend the NFL Academy. He is currently a defensive lineman at the University of Tennessee.
Advertisement
'What we're looking for is a high level of athlete,' Umenyiora said. 'They usually come from a sporting background — basketball, soccer, whatever it is. Then we bring them together and we run them through tests, not really football specific, just see how fast they are, how high they can jump, their movement abilities, their ability to retain information.
'We look for people or traits that there's just not a whole lot of — and that usually comes in the form of size, and the ability to move with that size.
'Whoever the best ones are, whoever puts up the best numbers, whoever shows the best attitude, and whoever we think will have the opportunity to make an impact, whether that's at the NFL Academy in the UK or over at the NFL IPP program, that's who gets selected.'
On June 20 and 21, the inaugural IFAF African Flag Football Continental Championships take place in Cairo, Egypt. The sport makes its debut at the 2028 Olympics, with NFL players eligible to compete in Los Angeles following a vote by owners last month. At 32, Cameroon is the highest-ranked African nation, according to IFAF.
'It's still a long way to go before then,' Umenyiora said, referring to the Olympics. 'There's so many different steps that need to be taken before a team can come into the Olympics, but, quite frankly, we're hoping that a team from Africa can make it. I'm pretty sure that one will.'
In 2024, more than 130 players of African descent competed in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns were the first NFL team to obtain international marketing rights in Nigeria; the Philadelphia Eagles likewise in Ghana. With the likes of Browns tight end David Njoku regularly traveling to Africa in the offseason, the needle is moving.
Meet the newest @Browns fans in Nigeria! They'll keep working on their chants 😂😉@David_Njoku80 🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/5zqg7U5sgD
— NFL Africa (@NFLAfrica) June 19, 2024
When the Detroit Lions drafted edge rusher Ahmed Hassanein in the sixth round out of Boise State in April, it marked another significant moment for the continent as the 22-year-old became the first Egyptian player selected in the draft.
Hassanein was born in Anaheim, Calif., but moved to Cairo at 6. He has already endeared himself to Lions fans with his story and engaging social media presence.
'Incredible. We're really excited about him. Usually, the northern part of Africa doesn't produce those kind of players. It just coincided with the fact that we're going to Egypt in June, so it couldn't have worked out better for everybody involved,' said Umenyiora, who during Super Bowl LVIII starred in a two-and-a-half minute advertisement for the IPP program filmed in Accra.
Advertisement
'Egypt are very serious about American football, they have the biggest flag football federation, the biggest flag football league and their federation EFAF (Egyptian Federation of American Football) has been very serious about football for quite a while now.
'There's a lot of things going on outside of America with the game of football that a lot of people just don't know. So the more we're able to expose that and bring that to people's attention, I think the better off the game is gonna be.'
After all, who knows who could follow Umenyiora's path to the NFL, which was not a traditional one. Born in Golders Green, north London, he moved to Nigeria at 7 and then to the U.S. four years later, first playing football in the 11th grade.
'I was playing basketball a lot with some older guys and they were like, 'Man, you should play football. You look like a football player.' And, eventually, I took them up on it,' Umenyiora said.
'I was blessed with the natural side. I was like 6 feet, 3 inches, 200-and-something pounds when I was in high school. And I had the speed, I was always fast. Everything just took off from there. But if you have the physical capabilities, then everything else is just like a mental game, right?
'And there was no real other alternative for me. Once I found out, 'Hey, I could go to school,' which was what I was sent to America to do, and I'm like, 'Hey, these guys will give me a scholarship to play this game. Are you kidding me?' Yeah, I'm gonna play it.
'I kept on playing, and each step, it just kept on rewarding me. When I was in school, I was getting my degree and I didn't really know until my senior year in college that I could go to the NFL. And they're like, 'Yeah, well. You can get drafted.'
'And I'm like, 'I'm gonna get a business degree and go into the NFL, are you kidding me?' Like, what kind of American wonder is this, right? So, I just kept on doing it!
'And so, understanding that and knowing that it is possible, I can do the exact same thing for other people with the help of the NFL. It was just the ultimate dream for me.'
Umenyiora is an engaging interviewee. He is sharp, shares stories and has the grace to laugh heartily when it is suggested that many cards fell into place for him. But what luck came his way was accompanied by a fierce work ethic.
'The thing about football, honestly, is, as good as you are, I think that there's some things that people don't truly understand about the game,' Umenyiora said. 'If I hadn't gone to the New York Giants with Michael Strahan, I wouldn't have been the player that I was. He taught me so much about football that coaches just can't teach you.
Advertisement
'There's so many things you learn about the game just by watching other people who are at that level. And so me going into that locker room and seeing Strahan, and seeing some of the things that he was doing, I just couldn't wrap my head around how good he was. And so I had to learn.
'And he taught me and then I took so many things from his game and implemented them into my game, and that's what took my game to the next level.
'I reflect on that a lot. … A lot of things fell into place for me, right? Knowing that all those things had to happen for me, but I still had to do the work and I had the ability. It's just a matter of recognizing that talent.
'And so, hey, if I could do the same thing for other people, and put them in the same position that I was put in, then we can actually replicate the exact same thing that happened to me.
'I don't think I was anything special. I knew many better athletes than I was when I was in Nigeria, who just never got the chance. So, if they had been given those opportunities, they could have done the exact same thing that I did, maybe even more.
'So why not give them those chances?'
(Top image: Pinyata.com / NFL)