Today, the Ministry of Sports announced a strategy to support clubs in the upcoming 2022-2023 sports season, which aims to increase and maintain the financial and administrative sustainability of sports clubs in the Kingdom through the implementation of an effective management system that contributes to their development and maintaining their stability. in the long term, in addition to establishing control over the payment of said amounts for various sports, intensifying the digital transformation of sports clubs, developing their facilities and supporting league match attendance.
The Ministry has revealed a number of updates and amendments to the strategy to achieve financial and administrative regulation in sports clubs through six initiatives related to many aspects, namely (direct support – management – various games – mass attendance – development of sports facilities – digital transformation).
As part of the Direct Support initiative, this year the support given to the Yellow League first-degree clubs has increased, so that each club of this degree deserves 6.5 million rials per year instead of 5 million last year, while the same support provided clubs in the Prince Mohammed Cup League will continue. Bin Salman for professionals, at a rate of 50 million rials per club per year and 3 million rials per club in the second division.
Under the Governance Initiative, the initiative will be governed by the newly announced administrative classification system for sports clubs, including all 170 clubs in the Kingdom, without regard to club level in the football league, after only 64 clubs last year. .
As part of this initiative, an independence path has been launched for category (A) clubs, according to their administrative classification, to give them a wider field to manage plans and procedures related to management, and clubs in this category will be subject to a special assessment. focusing on key performance indicators related to financial, administrative and sports performance, as well as public relations, on a quarterly and semi-annual basis.
The remaining categories (B – C – D – E) will be evaluated quarterly with 7 for each criterion. As for category (F) clubs, they will undergo ongoing training and workshops in preparation for enrollment in the category. financial support for the Management Initiative.
With regard to the “Different Games” initiative, three new games have been added, namely wrestling, swordsmanship and archery, with a total budget of 474.5 million rials Category (A – B – C) based on 3 criteria (number of active clubs for each sport, the number of practicing athletes, the number of players in each club) so that each sport receives a certain number of points distributed by leagues and competitions by 1440 points, so that the cost of one point will be 300,000 rials, and the remainder of the total budget in the amount of 42.5 million riyals will be allocated to the Sunni Incentive Support Program, which is based on registration with the respective federations in 8 programs for at least age groups, and passing the assessment of the union when the programs are activated At the end of the season, with the assistance of the respective federations, develop programs for age groups groups, provided that the clubs implement them and are subject to evaluation in order to receive the support allocated to this programs.
In the fourth year of the implementation of the strategy, 240 million riyals have been allocated for the mass attendance initiative, which concerns clubs participating in the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Professional League, with a maximum of one million riyals per club per match played on its soil in accordance with the following ratios:
First – Matches played in stadiums with a capacity of less than 15,000 spectators:
One million rials for a club that reaches 90% attendance.
750,000 rials for a club that reaches 75% attendance.
500,000 rials for a club that reaches 60% attendance.
250,000 rials for a club that reaches 50% attendance.
100,000 rials for a club that reaches 30% attendance.
The second is matches played in stadiums with a capacity of more than 15,000 spectators:
One million rials for a club that reaches 80% attendance.
750,000 rials for a club that achieves a 65% attendance rate.
500,000 rials for a club that reaches 50% attendance.
250,000 rials for a club that reaches a 40% attendance rate.
– 100,000 rials to a club that reaches the attendance level of 20%.
The maximum percentage for interest calculation in these matches is (30,000 seats) for all stadiums, including stadiums with a capacity of more than 30,000 seats.
The budget surplus for this initiative will also be used to reward clubs with the highest crowd attendance during the sports season, which will be paid annually, as 70% of the surplus will be controlled for matches played in stadiums with a capacity of more than 15,000 people. spectators under a certain mechanism, while a 30% surplus will be controlled for matches played in stadiums with a capacity of less than 15,000 spectators under another mechanism.
The sports facilities development initiative will remain unchanged, with a further allocation of 160 million riyals to this initiative to achieve comprehensive and partial development of facilities to provide the necessary support, motivate clubs to develop and improve sports facilities and stadiums. , according to the needs of each facility.
As for the Digital Transformation initiative that was launched last year, it revolves around the launch of a central digital platform for the ministry to catalyze the digital transformation of clubs within the two regions. Track plans for clubs covered by digital transformation in the 2021-2022 sports season. (clubs that participated last season in the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Professional Cup) to ensure that the club’s internal operations are carried out digitally through automated reports.
The support allocated to this initiative will be 500,000 rials annually for each of the clubs covered by digital transformation last season, which will be distributed in 4 payments worth 125 thousand rials, provided that these amounts are paid by the clubs to implement digital transformation plans.