Mathare United, AFC Leopards to miss windfall from Victor Wanyama’s transfer

Southampton’s Victor Wanyama (right) vies for the ball with West Ham’s Mohamed Diame during their English Premier League match. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By GILBERT WANDERA

Mathare United and AFC Leopards have been left out of the Sh80 million solidarity fees to be paid out by English Premier League side Southampton for maulding midfielder Victor Wanyama.

The two clubs have in the past laid claim on the player, as having helped groome him before he turned 21, but according to Football Kenya Federation (FKF) only three local sides Country Bus, JMJ Academy and Nairobi City Stars deserve to get anything.

The federation last week sent the player’s passport to the English Football Association in a bid to determine, which clubs ought to be paid the money and for which periods.

The passport indicates that Wanyama, who was born in 1991, played for Country Bus from 2003 to 2004 as an amateur making the club eligible to receive payments for two  years.

After leaving Country Bus, the passport indicates that Wanyama moved to JMJ Academy playing as an amateur from 2005 to 2006 before joining Nairobi City Stars where he began his professional career and stayed there for two seasons in 2007 and 2008.

Player’s movement

Wanyama transfered to Belgian side Germinal Beerschot in 2009 staying at the club for two years before moving on to Scotland giants Celtic for another two years. He then made his record Sh1.6 billion move to Southampton in July.

In claiming solidarity fees on the player, Mathare United showed documents proving that Wanyama featured for various sides in the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) teams between 2001 and 2006.

The documents show that Wanyama played for MYSA Silver Stars in the Mbotela Zone from 2002 to 2003. He then joined MYSA Gunners between 2004 and 2005.

In 2006, MYSA claim the player represented them in an Under-20 regional tournament held in Moshi, Tanzania and was even given a certificate of participation.

Mathare United chairman Bob Munro has confirmed the club has put in a claim to be paid part of the solidarity fees.

No proof

However, despite making a claim on the player, Leopards have not shown any documents to indicate that he played for them.

In his letter to the English FA, FKF Chairman Sam Nyamweya, said this was the final word on who ought to be paid and to ignore any further queries effectively ending any hopes by any club from making a claim. This hopefully, will bring to an end a long standing dispute over a share of the millions of shillings.

According to JMJ chairman Jean Marie Abeels, they are satisfied with the allocation and thanked the local federation for sorting out the issue.

“We are happy that finally there is light at the end of the tunnel regarding this matter. We want to thank FKF for coming up with an acceptable formulae for sorting out this issue,” he said.

Two months ago, the matter was taken to world football governing body Fifa following disagreements among local clubs on how to share the money. One of the clubs, Nairobi league side Country Bus petitioned the Fifa to intervene in the matter.

[e-mail]