Civo lead on club licensing

• All, but one player, re-sign contracts

Civo United have proved to be domestic football models of adherence to FAM Club Licensing pre-season requirements after meeting the first precondition of putting all players, save for one, on contracts averaging three years.

Sources close to the Lilongwe side said midfielder Jabulani Linje was the only notable player who has delayed signing a contract renewal while demanding a hefty signing-on fee estimated at K1.5 million(US$3 333), with K800 000 (US$1 778) being an upfront payment.

“They have retained them at market value and there were a substantial number of players. It is almost the whole squad. By re-signing them, they have prevented them from moving to other clubs in this off-season. Subject to the executive committee’s decision, some may be released and have around 23 players,” said the source.

One of the players, Emmanuel Zoya, confirmed signing a contract extension for three years, but was not aware of other players retained.

Reports suggest that the retained players are the likes of John Lanjesi, Thoko Harrison, Dan Msimuko, Nelson Kangunje, Vincent Nyangulu and Duncan Mkandawire.

Civo general secretary Rashid Ntelela confirmed that almost all players had signed save for Linje, but dismissed reports that he was demanding K1.5 million. Linje, who was recently linked to Blantyre giants Big Bullets and Wanderers, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Lanjesi was also linked with the Blantyre teams, but eventually opted to stay put at Civo.

“We have indeed re-signed most of the players recommended by the technical panel. The list of those to be off loaded will be released this week,” Ntelela explained yesterday.

“Everything has been finalised with him [Linje], but he was asking for a prior fulfilment of a certain part-payment, which we are looking into and, hopefully, it will be sorted out this week,” he said.

FAM club licensing manager Casper Jangale said copies of the licences will be dispatched to all clubs this week for them to tick against the provided check list. The process will be followed by physical inspection.

“This year, we will start with the first phase of just the basic requirements, then move to the next phase in 2016. However, according to what we saw last season, most contracts need to be reviewed to ensure they meet the standards,” said Jangale.

FAM’s earlier circular to teams said the licensing objective was to ensure “that the clubs have the appropriate infrastructure, improving the economic and financial capacity of the clubs, ensuring and guaranteeing the continuity of the international competitions of clubs during the season, allowing the parallel development and comparison among the clubs by ensuring the necessary compliance in terms of financial, sporting, legal, administrative and infrastructure criteria.”

FAM warned that it shall establish a “catalogue of sanctions in the procedural rules to be applied against the License Applicants and/or Licensees in the event of non-fulfilment of any criteria as stipulated in the present regulations.