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ACCRA. — The Mauritania Football Federation have earmarked over US$3 million to aid the football community, hit by the coronavirus crisis, with each of the top-flight clubs set to get U$26 466.
Every player in the top-flight league will take home US$1,322 from the bailout package.
The executive committee of the MFF met on Tuesday to extend the postponement of all football competitions in the country to September 2020 as the fight against coronavirus intensifies.
They also decided that football clubs, players, referees and other officials will be supported with over US$3 million as they been affected by the pandemic economically.
Each of the 14 clubs in the top-flight league will get around US$66,120 from a package of about US$930,000.
The 15 regional leagues will be earning about US$26,466 each and that’s about US$397,000.
Each player in the top-flight will earn about US$1,322 from the amount while each coach in the league will get US$2,463.
Each of the 14 top division clubs have a minimum of 30 registered players making the total amount of US$555 411 for 420 players.
About US$37 027 has been set for all coaches in the Mauritanian top-flight division with each of them earning about US$2 463.
An amount of US$132 240 will be used to settle match commissioners, referees, referees’ assessors amongst who are totalling 166.
Until recently, it could have been said that the only way for Mauritania to reach the AFCON finals would be to dispense with qualifying and just wave every country on the continent into the finals.
In other words Mauritania seemed a hopeless case.
In December 2012 they lay 206th in FIFA’s world rankings, with only three countries considered to be worse (Bhutan, San Marino and the Turks & Caicos Islands).
And yet Mauritania made their debut at Africa’s showpiece football event in Egypt last year in a rise that has been remarkable.
Between November 1995 and November 2003, Mauritania won precisely none of their 33 matches, and in 2012 were banned from taking part in the AFCON finals because they did not have money to fulfil fixtures.
But a football revolution was already under way, led by Ahmed Yahya, now head of the Mauritanian FA, who first got involved in the sport at the age of 24 when he used some of the money he earned from a successful fishing business to set up FC Nouadhibou, in the city of the same name, a coastal hub north of the capital, Nouakchott, and near the border with Western Sahara.
Six months ago, FC Nouadhibou ended Triangle United’s brave CAF Confederation Cup campaign when they beat the Zimbabwe representatives 4-3 on aggregate.
However, they went on to lose four of their six group matches, drawing only two, to finish bottom of Group A which was dominated by the Egyptian teams, Pyramids and Al Masry.
Yahya appointed the Spaniard Luis Fuertes as the country’s technical director who oversaw the implementation of an impressive footballing infrastructure, including many artificial pitches.
There are now nearly 600 clubs across the country, with 65 000 registered players at all levels which has been achieved, partly with FIFA funding, in what has been a genuine success story. — Ghanasoccernet/The Guardian.
Online Reporter