“This is Naija: A Nigerian Football Story” captures the pulse of the country’s unbridled, optimistic and confident approach to football. It’s directed by filmmaker Andrew Dosunmu, who also produced the 2006 feature “The African Game.”
Wherever you travel in Nigeria — a diverse country with more than 500 different ethnic groups — football serves as a universal language, the connective tissue that unifies the land and drives the spirit, belief and energy of the nation. Football provides a rhythm for daily life in the streets, the clubs, the markets and on the pitch, from the energy and chaos of Lagos to the wooded savannas of Abeokuta.
The film, which includes interviews with Segun Odegbami (a star of the 1980 Nigerian Africa Cup team) as well as current players Odion Ighalo and Wilfred Ndidi, shares how the Super Eagles’ mission to bring Naija to the world takes shape.