‘Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’, this old adage aptly describes the situation between players in the Globacom Premier League and the officials of the Nigeria Professional League (NPL), the body that governs the league.

While the board markets the league with the players as products and rakes in millions, the players get next to nothing for their sweat.

For the 2009/10 season, Globacom Telecommunications, the title sponsor paid N921, 800 million, for television rights, DSTV through Total Promotions paid N119,771 million. The league official bankers paid N50 million, Insurance partner N20 million, Marina Medical Services N3.5 million, club registration N4 million, fines and cautions N11.4 million, arbitration N12.4 million, endorsement will bring in N 5 million, while the body will realise N24 million from other sources, all these amount to N1,191,875.71 billion.

Of this amount, the 20 football clubs participating in the league will get a meagre N200 million, out of which they will pay N32.8 million to NPL for registration fees, fines, cautions and commission on club endorsements.

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