Corry Ihuhua
2 September 2008
THE Namibia Football Consortium (NFC) will not increase its annual sponsorship amount of N$8 million for domestic football, despite the escalating costs and calls by the football bosses to increase the amount.
NFC chairman Albertus Aochamub told The Namibian Sport in an interview yesterday that their aim was to do more with the same sponsorship.
"We will not go over that set amount.
We will do more with the same," he said.
The NFA has a five-year contract with the Namibia Football Association (NFA), which ends at the end of 2010.
By then, the NFC would have invested a total of N$40 million into the local game.
The NFC gives N$8 million each year.
Sources at the NFA confirmed that the association was demanding more money for the rising costs in running the respective leagues, national teams and the development of the game, but the NFC would not budge.
The NFA and NFC have scheduled a marathon meeting tomorrow to present their positions on how they want the local game to be run better.
Yesterday, the Namibia Premier League (NPL) issued a statement saying that the league will be on hold for an indefinite period of time.
They cited "certain issues" with regard to the current sponsorship to be resolved first, before a date is found for the start of the league.
The statement, on the NPL letterhead, was signed by NFA secretary general Barry Rukoro and its league administrator, Tovey //Hoebeb.
It said: "Discussions with the NFC are ongoing and the NFA and the NPL remain hopeful that the issues being discussed will be resolved very soon to allow the league to start on a healthy footing."
NFC DISAPPOINTED The NFC, which has clearly been disappointed by the lack of professionalism and poor management of financial resources by the NFA, does not want to be put under pressure.
Aochamub said their meeting tomorrow is to review the current agreement and the NFC wants to see an improvement in the benefits that should be derived from the partnership.
"We need to agree on conditions such as the escalating costs because a lot has changed since the contract was signed.
Nobody envisaged that there will be so many cup competitions for especially the national teams.
But the bottom line is, we will look into various options that can improve our financial contribution to football," he said.
BROADCASTING RIGHTS He said one of the areas to be explored is to derive more revenue for football broadcasting rights.
The NFC and the NFA currently hold the broadcasting rights of domestic football and the national teams, but they have not capitalised on that since they have entered into the deal.
"We will look for new money through creativity.
That is one of the most lucrative areas to look into," he said On the postponement of the league, Aochamub said the NFC agreed to it because they want to plan properly.
"But we should bear in mind that it should not be delayed for too long because it will not serve the players any good who are already in pre-season training," he said.
For the past four seasons, the league has never started on the scheduled dates.
Aochamub however added that they will look for better incentives for the clubs ahead of the season.
Namibian clubs receive less than N$50 000 per season to honour their league matches, of which each team plays 22 in total.
The NPL and the NFA will present a collective proposal to the NFC for the main areas of funding.
Aochamub said the two bodies have a joint position on how they see the new season and beyond.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
