Denmark: Nigerian CEO buys majority stake in Danish football club

A 38-year-old Nigerian CEO has bought a 55% stake in second division Danish football club, Aarhus Fremad.

Shola Akinlade is the co-founder of financial tech start-up Paystack and owner of Sporting Lagos FC – a football club in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

The tech entrepreneur said he was honoured and excited to start this new chapter.

Aarhus Fremad has not disclosed how much Mr Akinlade paid for the stake in the club.

Mr Akinlade, who currently lives in California, founded Paystack in 2015 with an old schoolmate. Their firm was bought by US online payment giant Stripe for $200m (£162m) in 2020, but continues to operate independently.

Aarhus Fremad is currently top of Denmark’s second division – which is the third tier of the Danish football league system