Football  Association of Malawi (FAM) yesterday blew its own trumpet, attributing the K72.7 million gross revenue in Sunday’s 2023 Afcon qualifier between the Flames and Ethiopia at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe to good planning.

However, the association’s commercial and marketing director Limbani Matola said there is room for improvement, crucial being crowd management.

“We drew a number of lessons which we can improve on, especially on the facility’s crowd control infrastructure, but overall we did our homework to perfection,” he said.

Matola was referring to incidences prior to the match when desperate and irate fans twice forced their way in by breaking the perimeter fence.

He said: “It’s the first time in the history of Malawi football to gross such an amount and it was down to good planning.

“We thank Malawians for coming in large numbers to support their team. A big thank you also goes to President Lazarus Chakwera, Vice-President Saulos Chilima, Cabinet ministers, sponsors and other stakeholders for their support.”

Matola attributed the huge turnout to a number of factors, citing the team’s vintage performance at the delayed 2021 Afcon finals in Cameroon in January.

“The pre-sale of tickets which started almost two weeks before the game and the pre-match hype, which included township storming, also played a part. The game was well marketed,” he said.

Matola also said the presence of  Chakwera and Chilima also played a big part.

FAM also defended the gross amount, saying it reflected the turnout even though it was almost full to capacity.

Said the association’s competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka: “Apart from the fans who forced their way in, we also got communication from CAF [Confederation of African Football] instructing us that the capacity should be reduced from 41 000 to  35 000.

“So, 33 328 tickets were sold while 662 tickets were complementary which covered the President, Vice-President and their entourages as well as our stakeholders.”

Part of the letter from CAF, reads: “Under exceptional measures, we grant the approval of 35 000 fans in the match between Malawi and Ethiopia.

“For upcoming matches, we kindly ask FAM administration to respect and follow the protocol in place for requesting spectators in each match.”

According to a statement issued on Monday, FAM said total direct expenses amounted to K19.7 million and net revenue was K53 million.

Among other expenses, the statements states that K12.521 million went towards ticketing and sales commission; K3.572 million went towards security, K1.570 million catered for VIP guests’ hospitality while about K1 994 580 went towards first aid, public address system “and other service providers”.

FAM got K37 104 494, government got K13 251 605 as ground levy while Malawi National Council of Sports got K2 650 321.

“The detailed [tickets] composition is as follows: 32 500 standard tickets valued at K2 000 each; 353 VIP tickets at K8 000 each and 475 Corporate box seats at K10 000 each and 180 car passes at K500 each,” the statement further reads.

Malawi won the match 2-1.

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