Rangoon (Mizzima) – The owner of The Yangon United FC, Burmese business tycoon Tay Za said he had spent over Kyat 500 million (approximately USD 450,000), on the club for the recently concluded Myanmar National League (MNL) soccer tournament.
Tay Za, who has a close relationship with the Burmese military junta Supremo Snr. Gen. Than Shwe, during a press conference held at the Air Bagan head office in Rangoon, said the club is also negotiating with a new Coach and are considering to hire a Cameroon player in order to improve the skills of the club.
Yangon FC won the first runners-up at the recently concluded tournament, where a total of eight clubs contested in Burma’s first professional football tournament.
Tay Za said, “We are currently negotiating with a former Cameroon national team player, who played in the Beijing Olympics, to play for our team.”
He said, the club is also negotiating to hire a Foreigner coach, who has an ‘A’ grade license and had played for West Ham United in the English Premier League. He will be working along with Myo Hlaing Win as co-coach.
Tay Za added that the club is also considering of bringing more foreign players who have experience with popular football clubs. And in order to do so, Tay Za said he is ready to invest up to Kyat 5 billion and set up a separate business to sustain the club.
“All the proceeds from this business will go entirely to our football club and I will invest up to Kyat 3 to 5 billion as capital for this business. Please forgive me for not being able to disclose the type of business I am going in for,” Tay Za said.
Besides, the club is also reportedly willing to renovate the Hlaing football ground in Rangoon, where there will be separate players’ rooms, press conference rooms and training facilities.
The chief coach of the club Myo Hlaing Win at the press conference said his team has a bilateral agreement with ‘Tero Sasana’, one of a leading football clubs in Thailand, and has agreed to play friendship matches.
The MNL, which is the first Burmese League, in May kick-start its first season with the MNL Cup Grand Royal 2009 tournament and concluded the season on July 5 with the Yadanabon FC taking the first title.
Soe Moe Hlaing, manager of the current champion team Yadabon FC told Mizzima that the MNL will hold its second tournament from September to December 2009.
Soe Moe Hlaing said, the Yadanbon FC, which represents the City of Mandalay, had also spent about Kyat 500 million during the first tournament and had only earned about Kyat 60 million in return.
For the first MNL tournament, the Yadanabon FC secured the first place and won a cash prize of Kyat 50 million, and the Yangon FC stood at second and received a cash prize of Kyat 30 million, while the Magwe FC, which represents Magwe Division, secured the third place and received a cash prize of Kyat 20 million.
The Myanmar Football Federation (MFF), the organizer of the MNL tournament, awarded the KBZ FC as the cleanest club.
Under the initiative of the MFF, the first MNL tournament was competed by seven clubs, which represents seven divisions of Burma along with one private club, which does not represent any geographic location.
With the total of 189 players in all the clubs, the total transfer fees for the players are about Kyat 321.2 million. Meanwhile, the total amount of payments made by the clubs to players is estimated at about Kyat. 84.15 million per month.
According to sources in the club, players get monthly salaries ranging from of Kyat 350,000 to Kyat 1 million. But salaries for foreign players range from USD 1,000 to 1,500.
Chairman of the MFF Zaw Zaw has said he has envisaged of telecasting the MNL tournaments and establishing MNL channel in a bid to provide financial sustainability for these clubs.
He speculates that by 2011, the MNL tournaments could see an increase in the number of clubs, up to 12.
Following the first tournament of the MNL, several businessmen are reportedly finding their interest in the football business and are keen to set up their own clubs, as they believe that it can provide a channel to get publicity.
But the current club owners, who are the Junta’s cronies, have not chosen to run a football club business but were reportedly forced by the junta.
