MTN Elite One: Union Sportive, CTFP clash over stadium revenue.

Union faced Dynamo of Douala in a matchday 10 fixture of the MTN Elite One championship on Sunday February 2. 

The emotion-packed clash was staged at the annexe of the Bepanda Omnisport Stadium in Douala, with Union emerging winners after a 1-0 triumph over their cross-town rivals.

Despite winning the match, Union officials soon engaged in a war of words with the league organising body, over the sharing of over two million FCFA realised from the sale of tickets for the match.

The tense atmosphere led to the intervention of officers from the Bepanda gendarmerie brigade. 

With the two parties unable to agree on the distribution, they were invited to the gendarmerie brigade.

There, the verbal clashes rather escalated, forcing the gendarmerie authorities to get hold of the stadium revenue for further investigations.

Parties trade accusations 

The Secretary General of the CTFP, Faustin Blaise Mbida said in a statement Monday that Union Sportive of Douala were “energetically but unduly” claiming 70% of the total amount generated by the sale of access tickets as its own share.

He argued that: “Such a claim would only have been legitimate if the club had subscribed, within the regulatory deadlines, to the conditions set by the new revenue distribution scale, in particular the payment of stadium rental fees to ONIES, which has never been done,”.

Mbida said FECAFOOT had fulfilled the obligation of paying for the stadium, as attested by receipt No. 01322163 issued by ONIES and it was up to it to “reserve 23% of the total sales for the host club in accordance with the new grid,”.

He regretted the lack of frank collaboration, which he said, led to a regrettable situation whose effects will be investigated by the competent bodies of FECAFOOT.

Union hits back

Reacting to the CTFP release, Union of Douala through its Vice President, Valery Ngassa said they had reached out to the Secretary General of CTFP at the start of last week to get inquire on the procedure to follow to pay for the rental of the Bepanda Annex Stadium for the Dynamo clash.

“Following this request, the CTFP announced that it had already rented the stadium, even though Union Sportive of Douala had already committed to hosting its matches in this stadium,” the press statement reads in part.

Ngassa said their request was in response to the FECAFOOT circular published on January 11, 2025 inviting clubs to indicate the stadiums in which they would henceforth host their matches.

The Union Douala VP said the administration of the Douala Sports Union notified the CTFP by mail that it was the Bepanda Omnisports annex stadium that would host its matches.

Union in its statement said though the CTFP had paid for the stadium on January 29, the body charged with organising the league, requested that the Nasara Kamakai reimburses the rental fee via an Orange Money account that the CTFP scribe himself communicated to the General President of the team.

“On this account, the amount of 352,000 FCFA, representing the rental fees of the Bepanda Omnisports Annex Stadium, was paid on the morning of Thursday, January 30. Once done, Union Sportive committed resources to secure the stadium and strongly mobilised its staff for the smooth running of the match in collaboration with the managers of the said stadium,” read part of the release.

The club noted that the CTFP has never clearly indicated to them the conditions and payment deadlines for the renting of stadiums. 

Going by Union officials, they were expecting to receive 70% of the stadium revenue since they refunded the money paid by CTFP for the stadium and did all the organisation of the match. 

“The club’s leaders were very surprised to learn at the end of the match that, contrary to the new revenue distribution grid the CTFP decided to pay Union only 23% of the total revenue from this match, which amounts to 2,0 72,000 FCFA. A decision vigorously contested by our team, which led to the seizure of this sum of money by the competent services of the National Gendarmerie for investigation purposes,” the Union Sportive statement adds further.

At press time, both parties hadn’t come to agreement.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3359 of Tuesday February 04, 2025