Castel final grosses K45m

The inaugural Ibongetse Castel Cup final between FCB Nyasa Bullets and Silver Strikers at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday grossed K45.28 million.

The figure was about K5.4 million more than what was raised during the Blantyre derby semi-final between Bullets and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre the previous weekend.

The People’s Team emerged winners with a 4-2 victory on post-match penalties after playing out a one-all draw in regulation time.

According to the revenue sheet, the two teams and ground owners  got K8.12 million each while Football Association of Malawi and Malawi National Council of Sports went away with K6.5 million and K1.6 million, respectively.

About K2.469 million went towards gate management, K3. 249 million went to Malawi Police Service while K3.28 million was channeled towards ticket printing and commission.

The other notable beneficiaries were Maximum Security and stewards who got K1 million and K550 000, respectively.

However, the two teams had different views on the revenue.

Silver chief executive officer Patrick Chimimba yesterday said they had reservations.

He said: “ As Silver Strikers, we are not satisfied with the gate revenue owing to the multitude that watched the game. The VIP Stand and the western wing were filled to capacity.

“Going forward, there is a need to properly engage clubs, especially on the pre-sale of tickets, issues to do with the number of tickets put on pre-sale and the number of outlets involved and engage clubs in the reconciliation of the same.

“And again, there are also other stakeholders who are paid lots of money, but their output is suspect. They should justify their value.”

But Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said they were satisfied with the gross.

“Much as we would have expected more being a cup final, we are satisfied. After all, it is not as if the turnout was impressive,” he said.

FAM commercial and marketing director Limbani  Matola was not available for comment.

An advance standard ticket fetched K3 000 while on match day it was pegged at K4 000. An advance VIP Stand ticket was sold at K12 000 while on match day, it sold K3 000 more.

A seat in the comfort of the corporate box was pegged at K20 000 in advance and K5 000 more on match day.

In the Blantyre derby, which raised about K39.9 million, advance open stands tickets were sold at K4 000  while on match day, they fetched K5 000.

An advance ticket for MBC Stand was at K5 000 while on match day it fetched K1 000 more. An advance ticket for Covered Stands was pegged at K7 000 while on  match day it was K8 000.

As for the VIP, an advance ticket was at K15 000 and K20 000 on match day.

Football analyst Kevin Moyo said it was clear that the turnout for the final was higher than the derby.

“In fact, had it not been for the vandalised perimeter fence at Bingu National Stadium, the revenue for the final would have been higher,” he said.