KPL champs to face reality of cost of continental football

Gor Mahia's Meddie Kagere (L) vies for the ball against Supersport United's Jamie Webber. [Photo: Courtesy]

It cost Gor Mahia close to Sh10 million to make it to the group stages of the Confederations Cup.

The Kenyan Premier League champions edged out South African giants SuperSport on goal aggregate despite losing the return match 2-1 on Wednesday. Gor Mahia had won the first leg tie 1-0 at home.

Now Gor Mahia stand to earn Sh27 million for making it to the group stages of the tournament.

The reality, however, is that the club was heavily cushioned by the Government through the Ministry of Sports in the first two matches of the Champions League, as their tickets to Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia were paid for. Without that, the club’s expenditure could easily have gone beyond Sh20 million by now.

According to the club’s Organising Secretary Judith Nyangi, accommodation for the three away matches alone cost Sh4.7 million. “Accommodation costs always depended on how many nights we spend, but on average we spent Sh1.7 million per match,” she said.

Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi spent Sh4.2 million on the team’s accommodation in South Africa, tickets and allowances.

The team had spent Sh3 million to prepare for home matches and also had to pay for accommodation of match officials and transport for the visiting teams.

Gor Mahia, who were forced to take their matches to Machakos due to lack of a suitable venue in Nairobi, have raised little in gate collections, as fans found it difficult to travel for their fixtures.

The highest the club raised at the gates was Sh300,000 during the match against SuperSport United at home.