FAM targets K29m from Standard Bank semi-finals

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says it is targeting to realise K29 million (about $96 666) from the high-billed Standard Bank Knockout Trophy semi-finals at Silver Stadium this weekend.

Big Bullets face Mighty Wanderers on Saturday whereas Silver Strikers clash with Civo United on Sunday.

For the Bullets/Wanderers game, FAM has printed 15 000 tickets, 2 000 for the covered stands and 13 000 for open stands.

According to FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda, open stands tickets are selling at K1 000 (about $3.3) while seats at covered stands will go at K3 000 (about $10).

He said the hike has been effected to address concerns by Bullets and Wanderers, who want to make the most of the encounter.

“Not only that, after wider consultations with key stakeholders, the gate charges have also been hiked for security reasons bearing in mind that the stadium only has seating capacity of 15 000. It is likely that the match will attract a large crowd,” said Nyirenda.

All things being equal, FAM says on Saturday it expects to get K13 million (about $43 333) from the open stands and K6 million (about $20 000) from the covered stands.

The competitions manager Casper Jangale said the two clubs depend on gate collections for sustainability; hence, they want to maximise on the gate collections.

“The gate collection system in Lilongwe is better than the one in Blantyre and we hope to get maximum revenue on Saturday and Sunday. These two teams command huge following and it is important that they benefit from it,” said Jangale.

“However, the most important thing on Saturday is not the money, but to see to it that the game is played without violence,” he said.

For the Sunday semi-final, Jangale said FAM has also printed 15 000 tickets, but the charges will be reduced to K500 (about $1.66) for open stands and K2 000 (about $6.67) for covered stands.

FAM is expected to get K6 500 000 (about $21 666) from the open stands on Sunday and K4 million (about $13 333) from the covered stands if all the 15 000 tickets are sold for the Silver, Civo game.

In total FAM is projecting to make K29 million from the two Standard Bank fixture on this weekend at Silver Stadium.

Despite the game between Epac and Big Bullets being filled to capacity, the money collected was only K3 million (about $10 000), instead of K4.5 million (about $15 000).