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By Sibongiseni Gumbi

Football Writer


PSL clubs would collapse without PSL grant – Kadodia

If football doesn’t return and teams don’t get their grants, football will be doomed. That’s how Maritzburg United chairman, Farook Kadodia, sees the situation.


Football, however, has been given the green light by the government to continue and finish their Absa Premiership and GladAfrica Championship league programs.

Premier Soccer League boss Irvin Khoza has previously stated that should football not resume, clubs would not get their monthly grants after the end of June.

Kaddodia said that situation would have thrown most clubs into financial chaos as they would not be able to continue with their business.

“I must concede that 70% of the PSL teams cannot survive without the grant, and football would be doomed,” Kadoddia said in a virtual media conference on Wednesday. “The reality is that the grant plays a pivotal role in every team. It would be impossible to sustain the clubs without the grant,” he added.

He said clubs were already trading on financial risks with the prolonged break. “It is quite a difficult situation, it is challenging for everyone – football or in general. Life has changed, players basically without being active for so many weeks have their own challenges. How many weeks will they need to get back into shape?

“As Maritzburg United, we have always operated on a shoe-string budget and we cannot make any plans without a budget. Our plans have been halted. We hope we can get past this virus soon so we can be able to plan for the future,” he said.

Maritzburg usually rely on selling some of their players to free up some cash flow, but it could be difficult this time around as clubs around the world have suffered a financial blow.

“I must concede that we have had a good trading model, it went very well in the past. The status financially is what I believe is a financial meltdown. But under the current circumstances, every club is playing the wait-and-see game. The biggest challenge is that we have to trade players again.

“It is difficult for us at this stage to enter the market, either to buy or sell the players,” he said.

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Farook Kadodia Maritzburg United F.C.

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