The hivernal marketwhich was reduced to two weeks this season due to the vagaries of the calendar, is experiencing very low activity, mainly because of the financial worries from which several clubs are suffering. The president of the National Professional Football League, Abdeslam Belkchouraddressed this subject in detail on Tuesday during his appearance on the specialized Moroccan channel “Arryadia”. The manager first explained the LNFP’s decision to shorten this winter window: “The transfer window would have been effective, even if it had been set for only three days! People got used to seeing the transfer window spread over four weeks at the start of the year and we understand that perfectly. That said, we have constraints this year: the programming of the CHAN for the month of February (before its postponement for August), then the transfer window itself, which could not take place while the competition is contested. We also expected a very slow paced market, given the financial situation of several teams. Today, after several days of the start of the transfer window, only one club was able to lift the recruitment ban, namely Ittihad of Tangier, which benefited from the assistance of the FRMF and the LNFP and who received a good sum to compensate him following the closure of his stadium. We are now waiting for the other clubs to come forward.
The LNFP grants 40 MDH to the WAC and the RCA following the closure of the Mohammed V complex
Certainly the club most impacted by the financial crisis this season, Adil Hala’s Raja, should not see the light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon: “For the RajaI believe it will be very difficult to lift the ban on recruitment, according to the financial data we have. They have already benefited from 10 million dirhams which were used to settle the formal notices from Naoufal Zerhouni and Youssef Bellaâmri. It will be very complicated for Raja. I hope that the club will soon emerge from this crisis…” For Belkchour, the two footballing giants of Casablanca will have to limit disputes to bounce back in the future: “The RCA has already paid 40 million dirhams during the summer transfer window, there were great efforts made. The club is still in debt to the tune of 25 million dirhams. Wydad has debts of around 25 to 30 million dirhams, but I believe that the club is able to pay these sums. I remind you that he has 20 million dirhams guaranteed with the LNFP. Raja has made more than 80 recruitments over the last five years. THE Wydadhe enrolled more than 92 players during the same period… The problem here is that a large part of these recruitments end in unilateral termination. This inevitably leads to litigation, especially since many big clubs do not take the time to negotiate with creditors.
Faced with this chaotic situation, which is plaguing Raja and Wydad, but also in several other clubs, the LNFP has provided financial support for training courses deprived of their usual venues: “As promised before, we have prepared advances for these training courses. , of the order of 6 million dirhams for each club. Those who were deprived of a stadium were compensated, like Raja and Wydad. Raja received 10 million dirhams during the summer transfer window and should receive the same amount in January. The same thing for Wydad, which has still not received its money… Hassania of Agadir also received a large sum. The Kawkab of Marrakech should also be compensated and we are in discussions with the Council of the region to establish the terms of this support, without forgetting the Ittihad of Tangier which we mentioned previously… The ultimate objective is to put an end to to this series of disputes which hinders the progress of large clubs like Raja and Wydad.
AS FAR, a model to follow
Abdeslam Belkchour finally established AS FAR as a model to be followed by other clubs, a club with “a very stable budget and which does not suffer from litigation. This club does not pose any problems for us, thanks to good governance. I hope that all clubs can follow the AS FAR model, which does not run on a large budget and which manages to avoid financial difficulties. I congratulate its leaders for the great stability in terms of finances and administrative management, knowing that the club operates with a budget which is equivalent to 50% of that of Raja or Wydad.
