Making sense of Fufa prize money
Big money. The new TV deal that was unveiled last week by Fufa and the Uganda Premier League means clubs will soon receive decent prize money. PHOTO BY JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
- Just last year, Fufa received Shs5.4b from Fifa under the development programme, operations and the performance incentive.
- Ugandan football is steadily becoming more synonymous with money. The UPL champion will now earn as high as Shs160m in TV revenue (starting next season) and prize money.
- Earnings will increase with participation in the Uganda Cup
KAMPALA. Soccer stakeholders have welcomed news of increased prize money from Fufa from Shs20m to Shs426m.
The news came on the heels of Sports Broadcasting taking over rights to air three major football competitions at Shs10b for four years.
The common denominator, if Fufa and SB are to see through their commitments, is that clubs are at the receiving end of the carrot – at least from the presentations.
The SB deal, which will cover Uganda Premier League (UPL), Fufa Big League and Uganda Cup when the contract starts running in earnest on June 1, will see the 16 topflight clubs share $600,000 (Shs2.1b) per season for four years.
The Big League and Uganda Cup will take 80,000 (Shs290m) and $70,000 (Shs255m) respectively.
Topflight clubs currently receive Shs56m per season under the running Azam TV deal, which means that will double when the SB agreement takes effect in June.
Enter Fufa prize money
And just when that news was still registering, Fufa at the weekend announced a major shift, increasing their competitions prize money 21-fold from Shs20m per season to Shs426m.
This covers all competitions from the UPL, down to regional leagues, women football and beach soccer.
The UPL took the lion’s share of the sum, with Shs128m being distributed amongst the 16 teams starting with this current 2017/18 season.
Champions will take home Shs60m, a huge leap from the Shs7m that KCCA pocketed for defending the title last season.
Runners-up will feel aggrieved for taking home Shs40m less, but according to Fufa president Moses Magogo, winners must always be thoroughly rewarded.
“First and second difference is that the champion even goes continental,” Magogo told Daily Monitor yesterday, “And being champion should be fought for.”
The model used by the Fufa executive that sat last Friday morning and came out with this development is akin to that of the English Premier League, where everyone earns something from TV deals at the end of the season, including the three relegated sides. For example, the three clubs to go down at the end of this season will vamoose with Shs1m, Shs0.7m and 0.5m respectively.
If the season were to end today, table leaders SC Villa would be the first to earn that Shs60m, but the Blues president Ben Misagga will hope they stay up there to earn it rightly at the end of the season.
“This is good competition gear,” said Misagga, “Good motivation.” KCCA chairman Aggrey Ashaba also welcomed the development saying the prize money “Creates a purpose for competition, rewards hard work and develops competition in the league.
“The federation is walking the talk and as clubs, we must pick up ourselves, dust off complacency and get onto the pitches to do business,” added Ashaba.
“It’s a good initiative, one we have been crying for,” weighed in Proline director and coach Mujib Kasule, “It can increase with time but a good start.”
Fufa boss, Magogo believes “The pieces are now coming together. The improved governance and corporate image of football, the technical development agenda, and professional services now being employed by football are creating a product to be sold for money. It is not by accident.”
Source of money, and why now?
Of course one will wonder why in the middle of the season; and where is Fufa getting this money yet they were on their knees for government support just the other day. “The decision was done long before deal was signed,” said one source privy to the Fufa executive sitting, “We have had these plans all along. We were negotiating with many parties.”
Fufa deny this is money from government or Fifa grants, but rather from their other revenue streams.
Fufa normally get conditional grants in million dollars from Fifa and government, and this money must be used only for what it is asked for.
Just last year, Fufa received Shs5.4b from Fifa under the development programme, operations and the performance incentive.
It is from sponsors, where Fufa have racked in quite a number in recent times - with the Shs10b deal with Airtel their biggest so far, that the FA have got part of the money to fund the latest development.
Nile Breweries and Bidco are the other companies sinking money into Fufa.
The federation also gets millions of dollars from Caf, TV (Cranes matches) and gate collections among others, giving them enough war chest to roll off Shs426m in prize money, which is really a drop in their oceanic coffers, with ease.
