EFA HANDS OVER E540 000 TO PLE

MBABANE – Half a loaf is better than nothing. This overused English saying holds true after a sum of E540 000 was given by the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) to the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) in mid-December 2020.

The money was given to the PLE to assist teams in both the premier league and national first division to deal with COVID-19 effects.

This is part of the money which the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) approved last year to assist struggling football leagues.

“A sum of E540 000 was received by the organisation from EFA to give to teams in December,” confided an impeccable source. 

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This newspaper has gathered that the second batch of E540 000 will be released to the teams at the end of this month by the EFA.

In June, the world football mother body approved a US$1.5 billion relief fund. Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, said the relief fund had been ‘unanimously approved’ by the members of its council and insisted there would be ‘strict controls’ on how the money is spent.

All 211 member associations were entitled to a ‘basic solidarity grant’ of US$1 million (about E16.5 million) each as well as US$500,000 which must be invested in women’s football.

It has been reliably gathered that the PLE released the money to the teams in mid-December last year. According to highly placed sources within the organisation, the money was segmented into two, which include assisting teams in dealing with COVID-19 effects and compensation for gate takings as games are played without fans.

“As for compensating teams for gate takings, the money is given as pay-as-you-play; it is different from the one which was given to assist teams in dealing with COVID-19 effects,” explained a source.

Reports are to the effect that the funds pledged by FIFA last year had strict conditions attached to it. The money was to be released in two batches of US$500 000 for the 2020 calendar year and for the 2021 calendar year.

EFA Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe said as per their financial policy, financial issues were administrative.

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“The EFA will give a detailed financial report during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the whole financial year,” he said.

Radebe added that he thought the PLE was the right entity to respond as the issue affected them as recipients of the funds. 

PLE Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati confirmed that they received a sum of E540 000 from the EFA in mid-December.

“Yes, we got it and we will be receiving another batch of E540 000 at the end of February. This will assist teams in mitigating the effects of COVID-19,” Vilakati said briefly.  

Some of the elite league club bosses confirmed receiving the funds when drawn for comment. It was also established that it was not just the PLE that received financial assistance from the football mother body but other affiliates as well despite that the ratio differed for each affiliate.

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