Sponsorship for Special Knock-Out still open - Fianoo

Accra, July 28, GNA - Mr Kudjoo Fianoo, Administrative Secretary of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), has said that the titled sponsor for the special month long knockout competition is open for bidding.

In an interview with the GNA Sports, Mr Fianoo said the position became vacant after GHALCA cancelled an earlier publicised deal with Kinapharma, after the two failed to come to common terms on the financial package for the tournament.

Mr Fianoo said the reasons for the split was that Kinapharma offered 400 million cedis to have the exclusive right for the tournament, in addition to have the right to search for additional sponsors to help defray their initial investment.

He said in addition to this demand, the firm demanded free air time on television and radio which was at that time valued to run into about two billion cedis, bearing in mind that the tournament run for a month. Mr Fianoo said GHALCA felt they were being short changed on the deal, considering the fact that Kinapharma would be getting far more than they are prepared to put into the tournament.

He said consequently, GHALCA decided to go with the proposal of the Ghana Television (GTV) who asked for sole media rights in order to look for advertisement, which both parties would share equally at the end. Mr Fianoo said GTV in a show of good faith decided to advance 300 million cedis to GHALCA for the clubs to use in preparation for the tournament.

He said even though the 300 million is not enough, the clubs seem do understand the arrangement since they stand to benefit in the long run when at the end GTV deducts its initial seed money of the 300 million cedis.

Mr Fianoo was hopeful that everything would work out well, considering the fact that the clubs participating in the African Confederation Cup would especially use the tournament to warm up for their continental club matches.

The special knockout tournament was mooted by GHALCA to keep the premier league busy since the league will go on a long break to make way for the National team, the Black Stars and the National Olympic team, the Black Meteors prepare and partake in the World Cup qualifiers and Olympic Games respectively.

Mr Fianoo said at the moment the main source of revenue for the tournament would come from the gate proceeds where the home team would take 40 percent whilst the away team takes 30 percent. He said the remaining 30 percent would be shared between GHALCA, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the National Sports Council (NSC).

The event to be run on home and away basis will see the winner take home 30 million cedis plus a trophy whilst the runner up takes home 20 million cedis.

He said at the moment all is set for a smooth take off of the competition after King Faisal cancelled their earlier proposed trip to South Africa to engage in some friendly matches.

The tournament starts on August 4.