There have been murmurs that the amount given to the winner is small but the FA chief feels teams should applaud whatever is given to them
Football Kenya Federation Premier League president Nick Mwendwa has reminded Premier League clubs that the Ksh5 million prize money awarded to the winner is not meant to recover the season’s costs.
Giving an example of the South African and the English leagues, Mwendwa stated the money for the winner is always a small amount that can not in any way help clubs run their affairs without a struggle.
Wrong thinking on Prize Money
“If a club wins the league, he is guaranteed Ksh5 million and I am hearing from many quarters that it is too little. In South Africa, the winner is given 109 million shillings, in English Premier League, the winner goes home with 34 million pounds, ” Mwendwa told Citizen TV. “Our teams have never been given such money that we are giving them now.
“Prize money is not given to teams in order to recover their cost. This is wrong thinking because that is not the case anywhere in the world. The important thing is the trophy, its importance supersedes the prize money because this is the pride for fans because when they win it is only them who have won it.”
The FKF supremo also explained why the financial problems facing Premier League sides may not be solved soon as he added the money they get from BetKing and StarTimes sponsorship is not enough to sustain clubs.
“We have the BetKing sponsorship of 3.4 million dollars, which earns the Premier League 2.2 million dollars and 1.2 million dollars is accrued from the StarTimes partnership. From this pool of money, we give teams Ksh8 million shillings per year,” Mwendwa added.
“A club like Gor Mahia need Ksh100 million a season to run their team and from their own sponsors, they get something around 60 million shillings. Being our top club, it is clear they already have a deficit and this kind of deficit has existed in football for a very long time.
“In the 80 percent of clubs in the world, people invest in them and it is not entirely a place to go and make money out of. For example, I have put money into Kariobangi Sharks to help those boys and help the game grow because I love it. I can tell you that Kakamega Homeboyz and Sofapaka owners do the same and many of the clubs do.
“I can tell you that the price of buying a defender like Raphael Varane by Manchester United is over 34 million pounds so in that case how does a club make a profit. The point I am making is that football around the world is not a profitable sport.
“But there are countries like Germany that have done better in spending their money for their fans because this is a sport for the fans. I am hoping that one day I will be in a position to give teams Ksh25 million from sponsorship. Is it happening now? No, but is it better than before? Yes.”
The Premier League season is expected to end in August as Tusker lead their rivals towards the homestretch.
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