Afrobeats is getting another major international platform, with Young Jonn and Rema’s “Lalala” and Adekunle Gold’s “Many People” officially included in the eFootball 2027 soundtrack. Konami’s official music-licensing page lists both tracks among the songs licensed for the game.
It might look like a small entertainment story, but the bigger opportunity is in where these songs are being heard.
Konami says eFootball has surpassed one billion global downloads, giving the franchise an enormous international audience. That means these Nigerian songs are not simply being added to another playlist. They are entering the daily routines of football gamers across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.
And that matters because gaming has become one of the most powerful ways music travels. A listener doesn’t necessarily have to search for “Lalala” or “Many People”. They can encounter the songs while building their squad, playing online matches or simply sitting in the game’s menus. For younger audiences especially, that kind of repeated exposure can turn an unfamiliar artist into a familiar one without the traditional route of radio or music television.
The choice of these particular songs is also interesting. “Lalala” brings together Young Jonn and Rema, two artists with very different but internationally recognisable profiles, while Adekunle Gold’s “Many People” adds another Nigerian voice to the soundtrack. Konami’s official listing confirms both songs and their respective performers.
This is another sign that Afrobeats is moving from being a genre that gets exported to a culture that gets built into global entertainment products. Football and Nigerian music are already closely connected. Nigerian players celebrate with Afrobeats, European footballers post themselves listening to Nigerian artists, and the genre has become increasingly present in global sporting culture.
Putting Nigerian music inside one of the world’s major football games takes that relationship another step further. And there could be a bigger commercial lesson here for Nigerian artists and labels.
The next generation of global music discovery may not happen only through Spotify playlists, TikTok or radio. It could happen while someone is losing 4–1 online and waiting for their next match to load.
