Shocking Facts You Didn’t Know About Pooja (Nigerian Sports Journalist)

Grew up in Ijebu Ode, where he lived a reserved life and assisted his mom in a shop

Began his sports media career purely as a writer before transitioning to photography with minimal equipment.

Survived a road accident while traveling with other journalists for a CAF international match (eg.. in Ivory Coast)

Faced financial hardships typical of independent Nigerian journalists. He often grinded without steady sponsorship

Had to self fund many international trips, including selling limited edition Naija jerseys to cover AFCON expenses (e.g in Morocco)

Consistently covered local league matches with basic gear

Pushed through years of consistency and rejection to finally earn FIFA, UEFA, CAF, and Imago accreditation.

Pooja believes football should unite beyond religion and ethnicity, and criticizes how these factors sometimes divide rather than build the nation

He has been involved with Trendupp Africa and creator empowerment initiatives linked to Lagos State programs

Runs his company “Pooja Media and Communications” as founder and creative director

Pooja has voiced sadness over limited opportunities for the Super Falcons (women’s team)


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Pooja was recently gifted 60 crates of eggs and I believe he would know, more than anyone else in the world, what it means not to keep all your eggs in one basket… Lol

Speaking of eggs… Pooja actually did put his eggs in one basket. And that basket was his journalism.

You see, I have a theory

And it’s that, if you spend your life working with a plan B in mind, then you’ll use that plan B

Pooja knew it was either football journalism or nothing

And he didn’t start with UEFA or FIFA

He started with local leagues. 

Got the experiences from there and got the understanding of his field steadily from there.

So when you look at your goals next time, I hope you remember to start from your environment like Pooja did

Start small. Gather momentum. And let it accumulate overtime.

You will get there.

But you have to start from where you are and what you have first.

Pooja has now covered 1 World Cup, 4 AFCON tournaments, 1 Commonwealth Games and at least 2 Champions League games

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✍️ Vincent the Therapist on Twitter