Tanzania’s soccer sponsorship dilemma amid huge potential
By Abdul Mohammed
Dar es Salaam. It is Sunday, March 24, 2019, the sixty-thousand capacity National Stadium is fully packed with Taifa Stars fans and supporters hoping that this is their time after 39 years to qualify for Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). And, they were not disappointed, Stars beat Uganda Cranes 3-0 to qualify for 2019 Afcon finals in Egypt.
After the match, diehard fans donning their blue shirts continue partying in pubs and bars; why not? Stars had finally killed the 39-year jinx in style. Dar es Salaam City was painted blue.
As fans continued to celebrate, Jumanne Magwia, a street vendor had a different reason to smile; he had benefited from selling all Taifa Stars jersey in his possession, a business that he conducted for a week had indeed smiled back to him. He sold over 200 jerseys at the price of Sh10,000 ($4) per jersey.
Magwia is among hundreds of street vendors who benefit from selling counterfeit jerseys of the national team and those of major premier league clubs. As the vendors celebrate, the story is different from premium league clubs.
Emmanuel Kimbe is the Secretary-General of Mbeya City, the club that was promoted to the premier league in 2013/14 season. He says, his club started selling their purple jersey in the 2012/13 season when they were in first division league.
Mbeya City enjoyed from jersey sales in their first season of the premier league. However, says Kimbe, that was the last time they sold about 40,000 pieces at the price of Sh15,000 ($6.5) per jersey. After that, their sales started declining.
Kimbe laments that people, including those in high positions, don’t bother looking for genuine jerseys, they all fall for counterfeits sold by street vendors, “it is really a pity that even sports leaders go for counterfeits.”
“We tried to arrest some street vendors but came to a dead end. At times, we felt that we were abandoning our main task in football development and becoming police officers,” says Kimbe.
Kimbe adds that behind the business of counterfeit jerseys, there are people with financial muscles: “In Tanzania, there is no company that manufactures Mbeya City jerseys, they are imported. This explains why we had good sales in the 2013/14 season. These people imported their merchandise and beat us in the market.”
According to Kimbe, the only way to fight counterfeit shirts is not by dealing with street vendors but educating fans to buy genuine products and dignitaries should show the way. He cites examples of big clubs in Europe that benefit from sales of sports kits related to their clubs, and it is because fans buy only genuine products.
Another premier league club that has invested in selling jerseys is Azam FC since the year 2015 but like Mbeya City they believe that fans needs to be educated on the importance of wearing a genuine jersey.
Jaffar Idd is Azam’s spokesperson he says that a lot needs to be done since there are many football fans who do not know the difference between a genuine and counterfeit jersey they just buy it, especially if it is cheap.
Though he could not reveal the number of sells and income he believes there is a potential in the business of jersey which is not well utilized by clubs and Tanzania Football Federation (TFF).
Simba and Yanga
While Mbeya City and other clubs are lamenting, soccer giants Simba Sports Club of Dar es Salaam have a different story.
Haji Manara is Simba’s spokesperson, he says they started selling their red and white jerseys in 2015, but sales were poor then until 2018/19 season when they were paid some Sh300 million ($131,000) by their agent, Romario Company.
Even as Manara doesn’t reveal the number of jerseys sold, the kits sell for Sh30,000 per piece. He says their target is to sell 100,000 jerseys and their dream is to enter into an agreement with such big brands as Nike, Adidas or Puma.
When asked why not set a higher target, say 500,000 kits, given the wide fan base the club enjoys, Manara responds: “That cannot be achieved overnight.”
“We are in the right direction. So, in the future maybe we will be able to sell 500,000 jerseys and above. We only need to educate our fans and supporters to keep going for genuine products, and show them how this will benefit the club and themselves because they only want the success of the team,” he says.
If Simba manage to sell 100,000 jerseys at the price of Sh30,000 per piece, it means they will generate some Sh3 billion ($1.3 million), so, if all other costs and taxes are deducted, they can easily pocket some Sh1 billion ($434,700). This will contribute a lot to their annual budget which currently stands at Sh1.7 billion ($739,700). So, selling 500,000 pieces will generate a lot more.
While Simba have registered this impressive development, their arch-rivals, Dar Young Africans (Yanga) are not lagging behind. In August, they commissioned GSM Company to sell their kit. This was revealed by the club chairman Mshindo Msolla who urged all club members to stop buying counterfeit jerseys but go for genuine products to boost club revenue.
Hassan Bumbuli is Yanga’s spokesperson says the price of their jerseys ranging between Sh25,000 ($10.7) to 50,000 (20.7) depending on quality and their target is to sell about 300,000 jerseys by the end of next season: “Our target, for now, is 150,000 fans by the end of this season then another 150,000 more in the following season.”
Bumbuli believes that in the future they will be able to generate more money from jerseys, “Yanga has fans all over the country, so our future plan is to have one million registered members, then if each member will buy one jersey in a year at the price of 25,000 the club will be able to generate TSh25 billion ($10.8million).
“It is true that this is not the easiest task but is achievable if we are determined because football is the most loved game in Tanzania and our club enjoys a wide fan and supporter base. Our fans fill proud to wear the team jersey, this is evident during our matches you will see them in yellow and green jerseys, ” says Bumbuli.
This means, the two clubs need to be more creative, take a more serious approach towards becoming an aggressive force in business and start generating really good money to finance their sporting activities.
Apart from clubs, even TFF can boost its income through sales of Taifa Stars kits. Clifford Ndimbo, who is a TFF communications officer, says without revealing the figures that they sold a huge number of jerseys during the Taifa Stars match against Uganda Cranes, they were running short of stock due to a surged demand.
“Many fans were asking for Taifa Stars jerseys, but we had run out of stock. We also enjoyed good sales during Taifa Stars versus Burundi encounter,” says Ndimbo adding that Taifa Stars jerseys sell for Sh30,000 per piece.
However, Ndimbo acknowledges the fact that there were people who sold counterfeit products at cheaper prices. “This is a big problem. That is why during our match with Burundi some fans were seen with different jerseys,” he said.
In a country of over 50 million people, whose football is the most loved game, it is possible to have a million fans who are each prepared to buy at least a piece of the national team jerseys in a year. It means TFF needs to be creative and innovative in order to boost their incomes through jersey sales. They have the potential of making up to Sh30 billion ($13 million).
What TFF needs to do is cooperate with the government, soccer clubs and other stakeholders.
In August there was a relief after TFF signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Vodacom worth Tsh9 billion ($3.9 million) and one month later they signed another four-year sponsorship deal with Azam Media worth Tsh4.5 billion ($1.9 million). Vodacom and Azam are now official sponsors of the premier league.
Both deals were signed after the 2017/18 season when TFF had no sponsor. If TFF puts more effort into sportswear sales, then they have the potential of sponsoring own league plus supporting the growth of soccer countrywide.
In dealing with genuine products, it is not only TFF who can benefit but the government as well through various taxes, including the Value Added Tax (VAT). According to Richard Kayombo, who is the director of taxpayer education, any business that sells above Sh100 million ($43,478) is eligible to pay VAT, which is 18 percent of the sales.
Therefore, from Sh30 billion that TFF can generate from jersey sales per year can be in a cool Sh5.4 billion ($2.3million) for the government.
So, to create a win-win situation, the government must also help find a way of controlling the importation of fake jerseys.
