TNM Super League clubs want out of Fifa+ deal following a three-year delay in monetising the livestreaming of their matches by the world football governing body.
The clubs reached the resolution during the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) Annual General Meeting held on Saturday in Lilongwe.
In 2022, Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) Mpira TV clinched a deal with Fifa+ to livestream Malawi football on its digital platform.
However, the delays in disbursing revenue from the project has irked Super League clubs, who told Sulom that they want out the deal unless they are paid the proceeds from the livestreaming of their matches for the past three years.
Sulom general secretary Williams Banda in an interview confirmed that clubs want out of the deal, starting in the 2025 season.
He said: “The clubs have never received their share of revenue from Fifa+. The clubs also want an agreement with FAM in place since we never signed any official agreement when it started. Sulom represents clubs, so we will simply convey the message to FAM.”
But FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda in an interview yesterday said Fifa is yet to start distributing proceeds from Fifa+.
He said: “Firstly, we need to understand the concept behind Fifa+. Fifa introduced the livestreaming of matches as a way of ensuring that football is available globally for free. It also wanted to ensure that FAs and their affiliates own their product unlike in the past when third parties owned football rights.
“But knowing that some FAs, including Malawi, have challenges in exposing their football, Fifa wants Fifa+ to ensure that our football is available across all web and mobile devices and across a range of connected devices.”
Gunda said the project is still in a pilot phase which will run for five years from 2022 to 2027, after which proceeds will be shared.
He said: “The project started with a pilot phase for five years and we are now in the third year. Yes, Fifa+ is making revenue. But as of now, the project has not been monetised to a point of sharing the proceeds. It still has a long way to go.
“Fifa can never take advantage of clubs. If Malawi football is making strides, it is because of Fifa funding. Clubs should be assured that once the project is monetised, they will get their share.
“It’s just like it happens with Fifa World Cup broadcasting and media rights. The competition runs on a four year circle, culminating into the finals. At the end of the competition, we get a cut from the revenue. In this case, we will get a share based on the traffic generated by Mpira TV on Fifa+.”
Gunda said Fifa is currently investing in Malawi football production which has been a big challenging in the past, by providing technical support for the production of the content for Mpira TV.
“Right now, Fifa pays for the production of all matches. It has also invested heavily in ensuring that we have equipment for production of content such as cameras as well as capacity building of personnel.” he said.
Gunda said if clubs want out of the deal, it will be a blow to them as Sulom will go back to the previous scenario where no production company was interested in taking up production of matches due to the high costs.
He said: “We are lucky that we now have Fifa taking up that responsibility. Media houses already shun football production due to the high costs associated with producing matches.
“Production of a single match costs a minimum of about K5 million. Now, if Fifa+ stops funding the project, who is willing to step in and pay the costs of producing all the 240 Super League matches?”
Over 29 000 men’s matches and over 11 000 women’s matches are streamed on Fifa+ for free, totalling over 40 000 matches per year in six language editions, namely English, Arabic, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, according to Fifa.
However, despite the role it is playing in exposing football, clubs blame it for the dwindling patronage at matches.
