Long term lease of soccer fields to football clubs

Monday, 08 March 2010 18:54 Myo Thein

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - State-owned football fields have been leased out to private football clubs on a long term basis, Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) Chairman Zaw Zaw said.

"We are often asked whether the football grounds were given away to the clubs. State owned assets cannot be given but we leased the soccer fields on a long term lease grant in keeping with rules. The lease is first for 40 years with three additional renewals for five years each totaling 55 years. If they want to buy the football fields, it has to be approved by the State," Zaw Zaw said.

The soccer fields are not part of the recent privatization of state owned enterprises and assets, he added.

Most private clubs representing States and Divisions will use their respective State and Division level football fields as home ground.

These disclosures were made to the domestic media by Max Myanmar Company owner and MFF Chairman Zaw Zaw at a press conference on 6 March during the briefing on the ensuing Myanmar National League (MNL) 2010 tournament.

There are 11 private football clubs in Burma. But running a private football club is not a profitable business, he said.

Some players playing for private football clubs and earning handsome amounts avoid playing for the national team.

The newly approved MFF regulation states that players who fail to play in the national team will be banned from both domestic and international matches.

"We find some players are only interested in the money they can make but not interested in the welfare of the State and the national team. To tackle this we have included these in our new regulations. We will check the fitness of players, who fail to play for the national team with the help of MFF doctors, and will ban them from playing both domestic and international matches if they are found medically fit to play," Zaw Zaw said.

The tournament schedule for the first round of the MNL 2010 was drafted on March 6 but they have not yet drafted the schedule for the second round. Only Rangoon FC United and Yadanabon FC United are ready to play on their home ground and other teams such as Kanbawza, Othha, Zeya Shwemyay teams are waiting to play on home grounds, still under construction and renovation.

The opening MFL match will be played at the Mandalay Ba Htoo stadium on 13 March and another match will be played the next day at the Thuwanna Stadium in Rangoon.

The entry fees for the matches will be divided at 40 per cent each between two contesting teams and the remaining 20 per cent will go to MFF.

The most favoured team in the MNL is Yadanabon FC United and the normal spectator occupancy rate in their matches is about 80-90 per cent. The second most favoured team has 60-70 per cent stadium occupancy rate in their matches.

In the last MNL tournament in 2009, the total income from stadium entry fees was Kyat 212.6 million.

The MNL 2009 Champion Yadanobon FC is eligible to participate in the Asia Football Confederation (AFC) Cup.

The Yadanabon FC club has also applied to host the AFC Cup tournament in Burma for group matches and they have received permission from AFC, it is learnt. All the expenses for hosting the AFC group matches must be borne mainly by the host team.