Salary gap not an issue as KCC faces SuperSport

Mar 31, 2009

IF financial superiority had a significant influence on proceedings in sport, then Uganda’s representatives in the CAF/MTN Champions League, KCC FC would have had no business engaging mega-rich South African club SuperSport United.

BY FRED KAWEESI

IF financial superiority had a significant influence on proceedings in sport, then Uganda’s representatives in the CAF/MTN Champions League, KCC FC would have had no business engaging mega-rich South African club SuperSport United.

But such is the striking aspect of football that each KCC player has been and will still be convinced that their opponents are not indomitable despite the financial gulf between the two clubs. They after all beat the South Africans 2-1 in the first leg last month.

Coach George Nsimbe’s side is about a combined worth sh2.3m a month, while their continental opponents are worth sh163m a month. This is aside from the four-month arrears KCC players are still demanding.

SuperSport’s first team stars occupy some of the most luxurious mansions in Pretoria, but a majority of their counterparts at KCC stay in single rooms that go for about sh50,000 in rent a month.

Of course wage structures in respective clubs are usually shaped by league and team sponsors. In August 2007, South African Breweries (SAB) and Absa announced a joint sponsorship of more than R500million (sh125b) over the next five years for South African football.

A lot of money from the sponsorship is also being channelled into the development of soccer in South Africa.

On top of the big sponsorships by Nedbank, SAB, and Absa, the PSL pulled off an astounding coup when it signed a R1.6b (sh400b) broadcast deal in June 2007 with SuperSport International over five years.

That completely dwarfs the $20,000 (sh42m) that the defunct GTV guaranteed each Uganda Super League club per season.

Under normal circumstances, the big money in the game is supposed to lift the standard of the game in South Africa, but that is not if the first leg meeting between the two countries’ cream was anything go by. KCC matched the so-called mega-rich club.

“It’s down to the talent in a country at the end of the day and we will try to prove that in South Africa,” KCC boss Nsimbe noted.

The two clubs’ wage structures are dependent on new contracts or contract renewals. KCC players are paid as KCC staff and their wages are fixed.

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Kaweesi is in South Africa to cover the crunch MTN Champions League clash between KCC and SuperSport United, courtesy of MTN

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