This year’s Airtel Top 8 final between Silver Strikers and FCB Nyasa Bullets at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday set a new gross gate revenue record of K116.45 million at club level on the domestic scene.
The Zamadolo seventh season final, which saw Bullets beating Silver Strikers 1-0 to retain the honours, beat the K88.3 million record set in the FDH Bank Cup Round of 16 between age-old rivals Bullets and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers in July at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
The amount is almost three times more than the K39.3 million gross for the delayed sixth edition Airtel Top 8 final between Bullets and Mafco FC.
From the K116.45 million gross, K22. 222 million went towards expenses, leaving a net of K94.232 million, from which the two teams and stadium owners, Ministry of Youth and Sports, got K23.558 million each.
This means, in total Bullets went home with K53.558 million including their K30 million winner’s purse while the Bankers got K33.558 million as they also got the K10 million runners-up prize.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) received K18.846 million while the Malawi National Council of Sports got K4.712 million.
Bullets acting chief executive officer Albert Chigoga attributed the record revenue to a sound gate management system.
He said: “This is a great milestone in our drive to keep improving the gate management system.
“It’s unprecedented and we are happy. We thank our supporters for coming out in large numbers to watch the game.”
His Silver counterpart Patrick Chimimba, who is in the UK for studies, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Ministry of Youth and Sports spokesperson Macmillan Mwale said while there was reason to celebrate, there is still room for improvement.
“This points to good gate management system. The people that were involved in the organisation applied good measures. There was also a good working relationship among stakeholders ” he said.
“Going forward, there are still some loopholes that need to be worked on such as some people being allowed free entry and the use of uncharted routes by some unscrupulous fans.”
FAM president Fleetwood Haiya was excited with the record revenue.
Posting on his Facebook page, he said: “A record-breaking K 116 454 500 gross revenue for the Airtel Top 8 final between Silver Strikers and FCB Nyasa Bullets today gives us a reason to believe that we are on a good trajectory.
“Our resolve is to keep improving our gate management systems to give teams more resources. A big thank you to all the fans for making this milestone possible. Together we can do more.”
