Nomads, Silver differ on gate revenue
Be Forward Wanderers and Silver Strikers yesterday gave contrasting views to the K40.2 million gross revenue from their Fisd Challenge Cup final at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Sunday.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) marketing and commercial director Limbani Matola yesterday said after deducting expenses amounting to K6.4 million, they were left with a net revenue of K33.8 million.
He said: “Out of this amount, each team went home with K8.4 million, representing 25 percent of net revenue. Bingu National Stadium also got the same amount as ground levy. FAM got K6.7 million while Malawi National Council of Sports got K1.6 million, representing 20 percent and five percent, respectively.”
But while Silver general secretary Lawrence Yobe said they were satisfied with the revenue, on the other hand Nomads chairperson Gift Mkandawire said the revenue did not correspond with the “big turnout”.
Said Mkandawire: “We are not very happy because we were anticipating not less than K50 million and it shows that there is still a lot of leakage.
“Nevertheless, it was something positive compared to the recent past, but there is room for improvement.”
On his part, Matola said the football governing body is generally satisfied with the revenue realised “and so are all our stakeholders”.
He said: “Overall, there was good coordination among all service providers; police, stewards, Maximum Security Company [which helped to consolidate security in all access areas], stadium personnel and Four Sisters, the company which was engaged to sell the tickets.
“It is also important to thank our football fans, who came in large numbers to patronise the match. And we further salute them for the great and peaceful conduct they displayed throughout the match. There were no acts of violence and hooliganism despite being a very emotional game as both teams were charged to win.
“We [also] reserve a special place to salute the two teams for mounting one of the best, thrilling and beautiful finals in recent years.”
The Nomads won the cup after coming from a goal down in the first half to emerge 3-2 winners.
