THEY ARE LURING OUR STARS, COULD AZAM BE A GAME – CHANGER HERE?

LURING OUR STARSRobson Sharuko : Senior Sports Editor

THEIR financial muscle has opened a new corridor for domestic football’s finest footballers, looking for the rich pickings of playing in a foreign league, and could the arrival of their parent company in Zimbabwe be a game-changer for a national sport desperately crying out for corporate partners? Bruce Kangwa, the domestic top-flight league’s leading goal-scorer, has already left Highlanders to join Tanzanian club Azam FC who are also on the verge of signing midfielder Abbas Amidu from CAPS United in a double swoop that could rob the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League of two of its best performers this season.

Gangly Harare City forward Fransisco Zekumbawira was scheduled to leave Harare yesterday for a week’s trial stint at Azam with his agent, George Deda — who negotiated Kangwa’s move from Bosso to the Tanzanian club — revealing the big striker will also have an opportunity to try his luck in Morocco with former African champions Raja Casablanca.

There has been a steady stream of Zimbabwean footballers into Tanzania, of late, with the FC Platinum duo of striker Donald Ngoma and midfielder Thabani Kamusoko making a big impression at Dar es Salaam giants Young Africans who have also snatched veteran defender Method Mwanjali from CAPS United.

Young Africans’ biggest rivals, Simba Sports Club, have approved a $10 million bid from billionaire businessman Mohammed Dewji for him to take a 51 percent shareholding in the club which has shaken Tanzanian football.

Azam Football Club — the new challengers to the traditional giants — are owned by the Bakhresa Group of Companies, whose business portfolio includes the largest milling company in Tanzania, with the company’s 67-year-old owner, Said Salid Bakhresa, rated by Forbes as one of the 40 richest people in Africa worth more than US$520 million.

One of his companies, Azam Media Ltd, is the parent company of Azam TV Ltd, the number one Satellite PAY television operator in East Africa, boasting more than two million subscribers in Tanzania, and Uhai Productions, which is the leading television production firm in that part of the continent.

Azam Media Ltd have been changing the East African football landscape with their massive financial injections — from Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda to Kenya — making a huge difference to the game in that part of the continent.

They have splashed millions of dollars in securing broadcasting rights, for the top-flight leagues in East Africa, providing sponsorship packages to the Football Federations, bankrolling the top-flight leagues and even sponsoring knock-out football tournaments.

“There is no doubt that football here is having a renaissance and a lot of that is owed to the big sponsors who are coming in and they are making a huge difference,” Deda told The Herald.

“That is why you can see that good coaches, from as far as Europe, are coming here to join clubs in this country and their input, obviously, will make a difference in the long run and you can also see that players from West Africa, who usually prefer to go to Europe, are coming to play in this part of Africa.

“The results might not be seen now but I can tell you that East African football will be a major force in Africa in the years to come because a strong foundation is being laid right now and it looks very strong.”

The Bakhresa Group, which owns Azam Media Group and Azam TV, have spread their wings into Zimbabwe with a multi-million investment to revive Blue Ribbon Industries and have already announced they will inject about US$20 million over a five-year period to replace old and antiquated equipment.

Given Bakhresa’s huge involvement in football, wherever they have set base, their arrival in this country has fuelled expectations that they could be a game-changing corporate partner, which the national game has been crying for, when they actually get going.

“I think it’s normal that they carry such expectations because of what they have done throughout East Africa, be it with the national football federations, the top-flight leagues or the knock-out tournaments and, as a company that believes in football and is pouring a lot into the game, one can understand the excitement in Zimbabwe,” Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association leader Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga said.

“They are a company which wants to be identified with the communities they are serving and we are excited here because our football has been receiving a raw deal from some companies which owe their success stories to the support they receive from the fans.

“We can only hope for the best because, unlike the East Africans you talk about, our football right now is doing well and you only have to look at the numbers of fans who watched the Warriors in our last two AFCON matches to see that this is a sport that is on the move.”

Deals concluded by AZAM Media Group

in the past two years

BURUNDI

Last year it was announced that Azam Media Group had bought the rights to broadcast the Burundi Primus League soccer games on its Azam TV channels in a deal with the Burundi Football Federation worth around US$8 million.

“Burundi will gain a lot because games constitute a major tool for cohesion amongst people. Besides, Burundi will receive wider publicity because the Burundi National TV will be accommodated in the Azam TV channels,” BFF chairman, Reverien Ndikuriyo, told Xinhua.

“Activities happening in Burundi will now also be broadcast in Tanzania and elsewhere that Azam TV operates.”

UGANDA

In February last year, Azam TV were confirmed as the new sponsors of the Uganda Premier League in a sponsorship deal worth US$1.9 million.
“There is also a possibility of Azam TV supporting other football brands like the knock-out Uganda Cup and the FUFA (Uganda Football Federation) Big League,” the company announced.

RWANDA
Last year it was announced that Azam TV and the Rwanda Football Federation had signed a multi-million deal for the sponsorship of the Rwanda Premier League.
The sponsorship package was for US$2.35 million.

KENYA
Last year, Azam TV announced they would pour US$2.25 million into the broadcasting of the Kenya Premier League.

 

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