At the beginning of the year, defunct Chemelil Sugar might have looked at Thika United, whom they have much in common including folding up after relegation, after Michael Olunga’s transfer, and thought; ‘Huh! That will be us someday!’. Maybe that day has finally come for the Sugar Millers.Thika United benefitted to a tune of 3.6M Ksh following Olunga’s move to Qatar in solidarity fee, and Chemelil are just about to bank at least 4.49M Ksh after Joseph Okumu’s move from Sweden to Belgium’s KAA Gent arising from the player’s solidarity fee.Welcome Joseph Okumu (@okumu_stanley)! ???????? Keniaan????????♂️ 24 jaar⚽ Verdediger#kaagent #transferhttps://t.co/OqGVOJvQ6a— KAA Gent (@KAAGent) June 21, 2021 Solidarity fee constitutes five percent of the total amount arising from any transfer of a player and is channeled to documented clubs and academies the player featured for during the ages of 12 to 23.For Okumu’s case, the solidarity fee will be shared among all five clubs that he featured for between the age of 12 and 23.Chemelil Sugar, Free State Stars, AFC Ann Arbor, Real Monarchs, and IF Elfsborg will all get a share of the five percent from the total transfer fee, 449M Kenya Shillings in this case.Kakamega High School-Chemelil Sugar FC -Free State Stars-AFC Ann Arbor-Real Monarchs-IF Elfsborg- K.A.A Gent.Kenya U20-Kenya U23-Kenya Senior team.Joseph Okumu’s rise has been steady and progressive. EPL, Laliga or Serie A should be his next logical step#KenyansAbroad pic.twitter.com/3yvKsWNkzm— Ole Teya (@Kevin_teya) June 20, 2021 Let’s do some Mathematics, shall we?Five percent of the total transfer fee will be shared with all the five clubs that Okumu played for as he was within the range of 12 to 23 years. Five percent of 449M is equivalent to 22.45M.From the 22.45M, each club will be entitled to 10 percent which will be equal to 2.245M. The amount each club receives will be multiplied by the number of years the player stayed at a particular club.Given that Okumu was with Chemelil for two years, the amount will be multiplied by two, which means that they will receive at least a total of Ksh 4.490M. Former Chemelil Sugar Team Manager Hillary Ouma is eager to see the now defunct club earn the money to clear off old debts the team owes its former players. “I am no longer at Chemelil and the club is no longer active but it owes a lot of money to its former players and its only fair if this money can be used to appreciate them. They did a good job in extremely difficult conditions,” he told Mozzart Sport. “With the club being defunct, I think the federation will advice on how the solidarity fee will get to the club. I cannot speak on behalf of Chemelil Sugar since I am no longer there but I’d wish to see the team’s former players get a share of this fee if it gets to the club,” he added. Real Monarchs will however benefit more from this sale, following reports of a 10 percent sell-on-clause. The 10 percent will apply to the total transfer fee, which is 449M, which will translate to 4.49M. Therefore, on top of the 10 percent of the five percent of the total transfer fee, the US-based club will pocket 4.49M more, which means that in total they will get Ksh 8.98M from this transfer.In 2019, Real Monarchs sold Stanley Okumu to IF Elfsborg for $200k. A source confirms they had a 10% sell-on clause — $418k USD, given reported €3,500,000 transfer fee.Real Monarchs netted $618k in total — and they still won the #USL title that year.https://t.co/cgvkjUvdhj— Jeff Rueter (@jeffrueter) June 21, 2021 Perhaps, this is just an eye-opener on how local clubs should transact their business when it comes to players’ transfer. It should also be a reminder to clubs and academies to document their players well so that they may enjoy a share of the fortunes in the future if they come by.
