Syrian football wins business backing
By an IWPR-trained reporter
Physician Faher Kalo has taken his love for football to a new level: he has
become a financial backer of Al-Karama, the local team of his home town of Homs
and national champions for the last four seasons.
"I am passionate about this team. I am happy to pay to support it because I
cannot bear to see it lose," he said.
Kalo has been made a member of the club's board and has been appointed director
of football, getting involved with appointing the
club's manager. When the club was facing financial difficulties about two years
ago, Kalo brought several other businessmen on board.
He is one of a growing number of Syrian businessmen and professionals who have
been funding local football teams to enhance their social standing in the
community through what is the country's most popular sport. It is not known how
much Kalo has invested in the club.
The clubs' need for funds has grown as the sport has become more professional
and sides have become more competitive. Players' wages have not reached the
astronomical levels of the European game but can be between US$500 and $1,000
per month. Foreign players, who are mostly from Africa and Brazil, can command
up to $6,000. By comparison, Britain's Manchester United reportedly balked at
paying 80,000 pounds (US$132,000) a week to keep one of their star players,
Carlos Tevez, while paying their striker Ronaldo more than 120,000 pounds a
week before he moved this summer to Real Madrid.
Rich clubs benefiting from the support of wealthy businessmen have been able to
sign sizeable contracts with the best players and bring in talent from abroad.
Syria has 14 clubs in the Premier League, four based in the capital Damascus
and roughly two linked to each province, in addition to around 120 registered
local teams. Games in the league, which has operated since 1966, take place
between October and May every Friday and Saturday.
Some say that the football landscape in Syria today mirrors the liberalization
of the economy that has taken place in recent years with the emergence of
private investors.
"Football clubs today are thinking in a commercial way," said Mohamad Khayr
al-Kilani, a sports journalist.
Clubs today look for contributors because of costs that range from running
training camps to the salaries of players and trainers as well as travel
expenses, he said.
However, rivalry between businessmen supporting various teams and their desire
to see their clubs win has led to allegations of corruption.
Whether or not referees, trainers and players take bribes has become a common
topic of conversation among football fans in cafes across the country.
In an unprecedented move, an investigation committee formed by the Syrian
Football Association decided recently to stop two teams from playing following
allegations that they were involved in bribery during this year's national
league.
"These punitive measures are staggering and unprecedented in the history of
Syrian football," said Khaled Bourhane, another sports journalist.
In national tournaments, many teams win points in "illegitimate ways", said
Abdel-Alim al-Fashoul, a member of the administrative staff at Wathba football
club also based in Homs.
He said players in his team had received offers of large sums of money from
businessmen to allow their opponents to win.
Club officials say they lack the financial capability to become self-sufficient
and so are forced to rely on private contributors to survive.
The government has built premises such as small football fields and restaurants
for the main clubs and allowed them to make money from running them.
But clubs are still prohibited by the authorities in socialist-minded Syria
from engaging in lucrative activities such as collecting royalties for the use
of their logos or operating stores to sell T-shirts or other products bearing
the club name.
Endorsement of clubs and players by the corporate world is emerging slowly. For
instance, when Karama became Asia's top Arab team in 2007, mobile-phone
operator MTN paid the club to have its logo on the shirts of the players for a
season.
This phenomenon remains small because the culture of advertising is still weak
in Syria, some say.
According to Abdel-Rahman Dabbagh, a sports critic, the lack of financial
support was one reason why Syrian teams had so far made little progress
internationally, he said.
Dabbagh said Syrian football was impaired by the bureaucracy and complications
of having multiple government agencies overseeing sport in the country.
"It is time to establish an independent sports ministry in Syria," he said.
Kilani, the sports journalist, also blamed the fact that Syrian teams lag
behind other nations on mismanagement.
"We need a new management to organize football in Syria," said Kilani, calling
for long-term, visionary planning.
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