WINDHOEK – When MTC announced its new sponsorship deal with the Namibia Premier League (NPL) a year ago, it essentially positioned Namibia’s flagship league among the best on the African continent when it comes to prize monies and total sponsored amounts to the league.
MTC Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer, Tim Ekandjo, made the revelations in a statement issued yesterday to the effect that the company’s annual sponsorship to the MTC NPL amounts to N$13.5 million and a total of N$40.5 million over 3 years, while the prize money for the league winners is N$1 million. In addition to being league sponsors, MTC further invests a total of N$750 000 in administration fees for the clubs.
As it stands, MTC’s total investment in the NPL effectively makes it the 3rd best sponsored league in Africa if one takes all aspects into consideration. Ekandjo said this is according to a comparative study done, by the company, comparing the MTC NPL to other leagues in Africa.
The best sponsored league in Africa is the South African Premier Soccer League (PSL) whose main sponsor Absa invests N$1 billion over a period of 5 years, including an investment of N$200 million per year, whereby the league winners walk away with a cool N$10 million. Nigeria’s Glo Premier League follows in 2nd place sponsored with a of N$131 million over a 3 year period, including N$43 million per year, while the league winners walk away with a total of N$687 000, about N$300 000 less than what the NPL offers its league winner. In 4th position is the Botswana Premier League whose main sponsor gives the league 8 million pula per year, while the league winners take home 1 million pula.
On face value, their prize monies are slightly more than what the NPL offers, simply because the pula is stronger than the Namibian dollar. Botswana does not support the teams with monthly grants and the total investment in the league is much less than that of the NPL.
The MTN Super League in Zambia’s total league sponsorship amounts to N$11 282 170 per year with the league champions receiving an amount of N$564 006. Sponsorship of the MTN Premier League of Swaziland totals N$1.5 million and the league winners receive N$600 000. Zimbabwe’s Castle Premier Soccer League’s total sponsorship amount totals N$6.7 million and the league winners walk away with N$789 614. Other leagues such as the Cote d’ Ivoire Ligue 1 receive a sponsorship amounting to N$11 million with the winners receiving N$564 000.
The sponsorship amount to the Vodacom Super League in the DRC is N$5.6 million per year and the league winners receive N$1 million.
The TNM Super League in Malawi is sponsored to the tune of N$1.4 million per year.
Interestingly, the Angolan Premier League in fully funded by the government, although the full amount is not disclosed, but confirmation is that the league winners only walk away with a trophy with no monetary reward.
The Kenyan league is sponsored by Tusker DSTV KPLC and the league winners walk away with N$970 000 or 7.5 million Kenyan shillings. In Uganda, the league is sponsored by Nile with a total investment of N$680 000 or 150 million Ugandan shillings.
The Tanzanian Premier League, is sponsored by Vodacom with a total investment amount of N$22 million with the league winners walking away with N$690 000.
What emerged from the comparative study is that most of the African domestic leagues have a total of 16 teams with few exceptions like Nigeria where they have 20 teams, Madagascar 24 teams with only the Seychelles and Mauritius featuring 10 teams each.
The other notable finding is that the two top leagues in terms of sponsorship being the PSL and the Nigerian premier league have the backing of billions of dollar deals between their leagues and Supersport TV, who bought the TV rights to all their games, a practice that is non-existent in Namibian sports and broadcasting circles.
The PSL also has various cup competitions sponsored by banks and the telecommunications companies with the MTN Cup winners receiving N$8 million, Telkom Knockout Cup winners N$4 million and the Nedbank Cup winners walking away with N$7 million. The NPL is however very desiccated when it comes to Cup competitions with the Bidvest Cup being the only cup competition where the winners walk away with only N$600 000.
“Notably, Namibia’s corporate sector is almost absent when it comes to cup sponsorships,” charged Ekandjo. Meanwhile, NPL Chairman Johnny ‘JJD’ Doeseb, applauded MTC for embarking on the study, even though the study does not include all African countries.
“It at least gives us a very good idea as to how we compare to other leagues in Africa, because people are inclined to complain without knowing how well we are doing compared to the rest of Africa.
“We are not even a semi-professional league and these statistics clearly show that we are competitive when it comes to the total investment in the league and prize monies for the league winners, and after seeing these results, I feel much better,” Doeseb said.
By Staff Reporter