There were contrasting gate revenue shares from the weekend Airtel Top 8 quarter-final first leg matches.
Saturday’s double header involving FCB Nyasa Bullets and Ekhaya FC as well as Blue Eagles and Civil Service United at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe saw teams from the main game getting K3.7 million each while those that played in the first game received K936 874 each after grossing K57.4 million.
In contrast, Sunday’s match between Mighty Wanderers and Creck Sporting Club at Mpira Stadium in Chiwembe Township, Blantyre, saw the two teams getting K6.87 million each after grossing K35 million.
In Saturday’s matches at BNS, K37 million went towards expenses while in the Wanderers versus Ekhaya match, expenses amounted to K7.7 million, translating to a K30 million difference.
Football Association of Malawi operations director Gomezgani Zakazaka could not be reached yesterday to shed more light on why over half of the gross from Saturday’s matches went towards expenses.
But football analyst Charles Nyirenda said: “It is clear that it boils down to the expenses, that is where the difference is.
“As the figures stand, even if the revenue shares for the teams that played on Saturday were given to only two teams, it could have still been far less because they could have received about K4.6 million each, which would have been about K2.2 million less than what Wanderers and Creck each got.
“So, the stakeholders need to see how they can control expenses.”
Commenting on the shares on Sunday, Bullets acting chief executive officer Albert Chigoga said: “Teams receiving K3.7 million out of K57 million is unthinkable. Anyway, there is nothing we can do about it.”
