FAM moves to corner clubs
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says only clubs with clean financial slates with players, other clubs and Super League of Malawi (Sulom) will be eligible for licencing for the 2022 TNM Super League season.
FAM club licencing and compliance manager Casper Jangale said the arrangement will ensure that clubs start the season with a clean sheet financially.
He said: “If clubs owe players money, this is the time for them to settle the arrears. We want to ensure that arrears from the previous season are not carried on to the next season.
“This will also apply to debt clubs other clubs in transfer fees or the league runners in fines and registration or affiliation fees. They must be settled within the season and not the next.”
Jangale said FAM will also ask Sulom to stop deducting registration and affiliation fees from the K1 million subvention which clubs get from sponsors TNM plc.
He said: “What we noted is that clubs will ask Sulom to use the K1 million subvention which they get from sponsors TNM plc, to pay the affiliation and registration fees, which is wrong.
“In the first place, you need to be registered or be affiliated to Sulom for you to access the subvention, not the either way round. Actually, if you don’t pay affiliation and registration, you don’t qualify to get the subvention.
“Clubs must pay the registration and affiliation fees at the beginning of the season. Sulom needs the registration fees at the start of the season.”
Sulom president Tiya Somba Banda said in an interview that the new arrangement will help in easing cases between clubs and the league runners.
At the close of the 2020-21 season clubs owed Sulom close to K30 million.
While Sulom uses prize money, TNM subvention and broadcasting rights revenue to recover the money clubs owe the league, Somba Banda it is impossible to do the same for teams relegated from the TNM Super League.
In the past five years, relegated teams have exited the top-flight league while owing Sulom money and the debt has accumulated to about K10 million.
Sulom president Tiya Somba Banda confirmed the development, saying the teams owe Sulom in registrations fees, affiliations fees, fines and other levies.
He said: “Some relegated clubs owe us as much as K5 million,” the Sulom president said without mentioning the clubs.
However, Somba Banda admitted that it is almost impossible to recover the money from the clubs once they are relegated.
Some of the clubs such as Max Bullets and Masters Security have disbanded while others still exit, but have no capacity to repay the debts.
Somba Banda said: “It’s a situation which needs a solution because recovering the money while the teams are not playing in the league is tough.
“We only pray that the team returns to the top flight league so that we can recover the debt.”
He said one way to recover the money would be to engage FAM to access the club licencing surety money each club pays at the beginning of the season.
Jangale said Sulom will be able to access the surety money to recover debts from clubs, but warned that it is not enough since the surety is at K1 million per club.
He said: “The best way is to extend the club licencing to the lower leagues. This will enable us to say if a club owes Sulom, clubs or players in the Super League, it should not be licensed to play even in the lowest leagues.”
Soccer analyst Charles Nyirenda said the genesis of the problem is that running a Super League club in Malawi’s economy is not cost-effective.
He said: “Look, if a club spends over K100 million and gets just K15 million as champions, do you expect them to manage to pay such debts?
“What the situation is saying is that there isn’t enough money circulating within the league. Firstly, let’s improve the league so that clubs get something tangible, be it from prize money, sponsors subvention or broadcasting rights.”
