Meeting the salary expenses for players and coaches will no more be an issue for the football club owners as the Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) will be giving the eight clubs of Bhutan Premier League (BPL) an additional grant of Nu 2 M each.
The financial support is expected to help all football club owners who have been severely affected due to the global pandemic. Before, BPL clubs would only receive a club subsidy of Nu 300,000 each, excluding travel allowances and salaries for the marketing officer, media officer, and youth coaches.
Aware of the calamities created by the global pandemic in the football event this year, BFF met with all the football club owners of the BPL on Monday.
Phuntsho Wangdi, the Head of the Commercial and Communication with the BFF says the move will ease some of the burdens the owners are forced to shoulder brought on by the pandemic. “Because of the global pandemic, our football club owners are struggling to pay the salaries of the players and coaches. Moreover, they have rented clubhouses to accommodate players as well. And most of the club owners being business-driven entities like tour operators, hoteliers and some of them are school proprietor, we decided to give Nu 2 M each to the eight clubs,” he said.
Delighted and relieved with the positive news, football club owners believe meeting the usual players and club expenses will not be an issue this year. Hishey Tshering, the Owner of Thimphu City FC says the grant will be used in “paying the arrears to the players and staff”. According to him, they weren’t paid since April.
Similarly, Yeshey Samdrup, the General Secretary for Thimphu United FC said the grant will be used to meet the salary of the players and will also be “used to pay the coaches that (they) hired and the clubhouse that (they) rented.”
Depending on the internal agreement between the clubs and the BFF, the grant is expected to be released soon.
“We will be monitoring where this money is going and if they are paying salaries, we will be looking at the salary structures of the players. Similarly, we will be also looking at the contract agreements of the players and various avenues where the clubs are spending money. That will be the benchmark for BFF to release the money,” added Phuntsho Wangdi.
However, for Tensung FC, the grant will be used to develop sporting infrastructure, equipment, and player kits. Meanwhile, Paro FC, Transport United FC, Thimphu City FC, and Ugyen Academy FC will be receiving another additional grant of Nu 100,000 each considering the extra investments made by them and minimal matches played this year.
Receiving the green signal to go ahead with the BPL this time, BFF has kicked off the Bhutan Premier League from this month. To ensure all COVID-19 norms are met, BFF is strictly adhering to all COVID-19 prevention measures directed by the health ministry and additional standards operating procedures implemented by FIFA and AFC. For now, including all the local clubs, referees and officials, BFF roughly employs about 1000 individuals through various football tournaments.
Passang Dorji
