Is Cambodian Premier League on Brink of Bankruptcy?

The Cambodian Premier League is apparently on the brink of bankruptcy according to multiple clubs and officials associated with the league, with CEO Satoshi Sato set to leave and the Football Federation of Cambodia set to take over the competition.

According to sources problems have bene brewing within the league for the last few months, with the main discontent hitting fever pitch over the last few weeks, and this leafing to the new of today, that Satoshi is set yo leave the organization.

You can read our report from yesterday here (link to KN). 

Where is Satoshi going?

According to a manger for a leading CPL club, who asked not to be named “His (Satoshi) contract ins set to expire in December. The clubs and the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC) have not been happy about things, so it has been decided that his contract will not be renewed”.

Whether Satoshi will see it to December is yet to be seen, particularly with revelations that the CPL might no longer actually even be financially solvent.

What went wrong with the CPL?

According to the same club manager the CPL have reportedly squandered over $3 million, while failing to bring in any income to the league. This is despite the fact that the the league has numerous “sponsors”, most of whom are also from Japan.

This was another bone of contention according to another manager who stated “Every sponsor seems to pay in kind, which is great for prizes for players, but does not actually bring in many for clubs”. Perhaps more frustrating for clubs though was the perceived lack of transparency, not just with sponsors, but money general, with few clubs realizing until recently that so much money had been squandered. 

More importantly though perhaps was that during this time no money had been brought into the league, with fellow Japanese sponsors such as Panasonic paying in goods rather than cash, something undeniable for clubs, with one manager stating “There was no extra money for clubs, but our expenses related to club licensing went up”.

And club licensing was another bone of contention, with it arguably leading to the demise of 9 clubs in less than a year, in comparison to just one club that went out of business in the preceding 3 years prior to the formation of the CPL.

These extra costs, alongside the actual lowering of expenses to CPL 2 clubs has again thrown that league into crisis with one CPL 2 club owner telling us “With the money the league currently provide CPL 2 is currently not financially viable. That we might not even get that money now makes us wonder if we will even be able to finish the season”.

Has the CPL gone bankrupt?

Again this is just rumor rather than confirmed fact, but according to insiders the CPL had been set up as a separate company to both the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC), as well the previous organizing committee CNCC. This has seemingly meant not only lack of transparency and oversight, but also the current rumors that the league no longer has any money. This was confirmed to us by one CPL staff member who confirmed that they would be leaving their job due to the current crisis.

What might happen now is anyones guess, with many hoping that the FFC will again take over the competition and hopefully “steady the ship”. Whatever happens though clubs and stakeholders will rightly ask how and why things went so wrong, where exactly the money has gone and indeed what can be done in the future to ensure the same mistakes are not mad again. 

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