ABSA Premiership increases prize money by 50%

The Absa Premiership prize money for the league champions has been increased by 50 percent from the previous season.

Chairman of the League, Irvin Khoza made an announcement at the Premier Soccer League (PSL) offices on Wednesday afternoon.

There has been an outcry for many years for the prize money to go up, as many opinions suggested that the R10 million was not a sufficient reward for the amount of matches played in a season.

Absa Premiership clubs will be eager to go all out to claim the new prize money on offer. The financial package that is exclusive to the Premiership division receives an increment for the first time in almost a decade.

The 50% increase on the previous prize money will see those crowned champions take home R15 million. The runners up will receive R7,5 million.

“I think the prize money is very important because of the structure of the league and we are hoping to be more than this going forward because I think 240 games – 30 games per team is a very testing period of any competition. So you want that when you win, you feel that it was worth your while,” says Khoza.

The title sponsor felt that it deserved to review their long standing relationship with the PSL and increase the prize money.

“I think the fans are the beneficiaries. The quality of football will improve. The quality of the players will improve and ultimately the quality of our communities will improve,” says Oscar Siziba who is from ABSA.

The banking institution will also provide financial management package offered to the players, clubs and it’s technical teams.

“What we do to encourage the players is also to start thinking about life after football so that we can see them starting their own businesses. We can see them go back to school we can see them starting something for their communities ploughing back. We have seen the few that have taken that initiative but there are so many young players that are starting up at an early age and they lack the financial literacy and we want to bring it back as part of our relationship with the PSL to allow these players to see possibilities in football to see their dreams coming true in football,” says Siziba.

This development comes at a time when financial education is a huge concern amongst local footballers.

Fixtures for the 2018/19 season were also unveiled with the League scheduled to kick-off in August.

The Pretoria derby will headline the start of the new campaign when title holders Mamelodi Sundowns take on rivals SuperSport United.