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"I have been sending $ 3,000 to my family every month since the start of the pandemic: if I don't help them, who will? " Bolaji Simeon Sakin, 27, striker at Horoya AC, the most successful football club in Guinea (17 times champion of the country), could not return to Nigeria, his native country, before the border closures imposed by the pandemic from Covid-19. Since March, he has been sending his family 60% of his salary, paid by his club, to his family every month.
Following the final cessation of competitions in the country on April 30, Bolaji Simeon Sakin is, however, deprived of the usual bonuses he won in matches – $ 200 in the African Champions League and $ 100 for national championship games. "We don't make a living like European footballers, and it's very hard right now without any games", explains the footballer whose contract ends in November.
The Horoya AC example is not an isolated case. For many African football clubs, stopping competitions results in near suffocation. " At the start, the players were put on leave for twelve days. We thought it would end there ", says Aldjarida Adamou, acting sports director of Coton Sport de Garoua, the most successful club (15 crowns) in the Cameroonian championship, which broke off in March.
The reality was quite different. Day after day, hope for a quick start to the season has died down – it was declared permanently closed on May 12. Club expenses continued to run. "We continued to pay the players' accommodation, to pay their salaries", details Aldjarida Adamou.
At the same time, without competition, revenues have otherwise dried up, at least very greatly reduced. In total, between these charges to be assumed despite everything, the loss of partners, the absence of ticketing income, the cost for Coton Sport de Garoua is around 60 million CFA francs (more than 90,000 euros), when the annual budget is theoretically 500 million CFA francs.
Emergency assistance plans
The situation is similar for many other teams. " The few private sponsors who put money in the Professional League before the Covid-19 do not appear for the moment "Deplores the spokesperson for the Guinean Football Federation (Féguifoot), Mamadouba Blaise Camara.
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