SD RANKED 14TH BEST LEAGUE IN AFRICA

Sports Editor

MBABANE – The hard- working Premier League of Swaziland (PLS) on Thursday got another feather on its cap when Swaziland’s premier league was ranked 14th in the African continent.

The rating is based on sponsorship and administration of the various leagues in the 52 members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
With a sponsorship value of US$140 000 (E1.4 million) Swaziland is above African soccer heavyweights, Egypt and Tunisia who are not in the Top 15 ranked leagues in the continent.

South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL) unsurprisingly tops all the leagues in the world with an estimated value of US$17million (E1.7 billion) which is the massive sponsorship the Dr Irvin ‘Iron Duke’ Khoza-led organisation clinched from ABSA four years ago.

Nigeria comes second on the best leagues chart with a sponsorship valued at US$4 million from leading mobile company, Glo. The African league ratings were revealed during popular Supersport 4 Sports show, Soccer Africa hosted by Sizwe Mabena.

Swaziland is just behind Mali, sponsored by Orange, a mobile company, to the tune of US$450 000 (E4.5 million).
Only Cameroon, ranked 6th, with a value of US$1.4 million is sponsored by MTN. The other MTN-sponsored league is Zambia with a sponsorship value of US$83 000 – just behind Swaziland.

Botswana’s Tiro Kgonela Head of Communications B-Mobile, whose company has announced a new five-year sponsorship of 30 million Pula, told viewers that the sponsorship is a US$1.4 million and he stated that they have had a six-year marriage with Botswana’s premier league.

“Botswana is a country of just 2 million people and we are giving football US$1.4 million and that is a lot of money. We are trying to uplift the standard of football in the country,” Kgonela said.
FA CEO Frederick Mngomezulu said the ranking is good for our football, and it just demonstrates the massive contribution that sponsors have made towards the sport.

He was, however, quick to state that there was more room for improvement as the need for sponsorship was still there.
“To be among the top 14 countries is good, even though we would be happy to rise to the top  five bracket. But again, one would like to thank sponsors for the role they have played in lifting the image of the game, we are yearning for more support though in areas of development,” he said.

Garry Al-Smith, a soccer analyst based in Ghana, revealed that despite Ghana being placed on third spot, with a sponsorship value of US$2 million, from a sponsorship by First Capital Bank, the average salary for players in Ghana is anything between US$200 (about E2 000) to US$400 (about E4 000). The winners of the league take home US$20 000 (E200 000)
This falls behind in the salary packages in Swaziland where some players earn E7 000 and averagely around E4 000. The winners in the MTN Swaziland league take home E770 000.

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