The verdict in three sentences
With 320 clubs and 42,000 members, a regional federation that processes licences on spreadsheets and cheques burns the equivalent of several full-time roles on data entry and chasing. A custom member portal replaces that with online licence purchase, medical certificate checks and a dashboard per club, with card or direct debit payment. At Kolonell, an application of this kind costs 2,500,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (3,810 to 22,870+ EUR) depending on complexity, over 4 to 6 months, with anything beyond that quoted separately.
The hidden cost of the paper process
Any federation administrator knows the calendar: between late August and mid-October, more than 60 % of the season's licences arrive within a few weeks. Clubs send spreadsheets in different formats, cheques come in batches, medical certificates arrive by email or post, and federation staff re-key everything into the national governing body's system.
As a 2026 order of magnitude, a manually processed licence takes 6 to 10 minutes of entry, checks and reminders. Across 42,000 licences, that is 4,200 to 7,000 hours per season, shared between federation staff and volunteer club secretaries.
| Item | Paper and spreadsheets | Online portal |
|---|---|---|
| Processing time per licence | 6 to 10 minutes | 1 to 2 minutes of review |
| Time from request to active licence | 1 to 3 weeks | 24 to 48 h |
| Cheques to bank | Several thousand | A few dozen |
| Missing certificates at season start | 10 to 20 % | Under 5 %, automatic reminders |
| Membership view per club | End of season | Real time |
| Pricing or category errors | Frequent | Blocked by pricing rules |
What the portal must cover
The member, or a parent, creates an account, chooses a club and category, uploads a medical certificate or completes a health questionnaire depending on age and discipline, then pays. The fee, from 35 EUR for a junior recreational player to 120 EUR for an adult competitor, is calculated automatically by adding the national, regional and club shares.
Each club gets a dashboard: pending licences, documents to validate, amounts collected, scheduled payouts. The federation sees everything, exports data to the national system and tracks indicators by county or district.
| Module | Simple | Medium | Complex |
|---|---|---|---|
| Member account and licence purchase | Yes | Yes | Yes, with multi-member families |
| Certificate upload and checks | Upload only | Club validation, expiry alerts | Validation, reminders, 3-season history |
| Payment | Card | Card and 3-instalment direct debit | Card, direct debit, public sport vouchers and local grants |
| Club dashboard | Member list | Collections and payouts | Statistics, accounting exports |
| National system interface | CSV export | Scheduled export | API sync where available |
| Indicative Kolonell price | 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (3,810 to 6,100 EUR) | 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (6,100 to 10,670 EUR) | 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (10,670 to 22,870+ EUR) |
For a 42,000-member federation with club payouts and direct debit, the project usually sits in the medium or complex band. Data hosting location, GDPR compliance for health data and payment provider fees are set out in the quote.
Custom build or membership SaaS?
Off-the-shelf membership tools cover simple sign-ups for a few dozen to a few hundred euros a month, as a 2026 order of magnitude. They reach their limits when a federation must handle three pricing layers, 320 club dashboards and automatic payouts. Custom development makes sense when business rules are specific and the federation wants long-term control of its data. Kolonell maintenance then costs 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA a month (53, 114 or 183 EUR) depending on service level.
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Sophie, head of administration at a regional federation, estimates that her team and club secretaries spend 8 minutes per licence: 42,000 x 8 = 336,000 minutes, around 5,600 hours a season. With the portal, time drops to 1.5 minutes per licence, or 1,050 hours. The saving reaches 4,550 hours. Even counting only the 1,500 hours of salaried federation staff at a loaded 30 EUR an hour, the direct saving is 45,000 EUR per season.
A complex project at around 15,000 EUR therefore pays for itself in the first season, before counting fewer missing certificates and cash collected earlier.
FAQ
Does the portal replace the national governing body's system?
No, it complements it. It collects licences, documents and payments, then sends data to the national system by scheduled export or API where available, removing 100 % of manual re-keying.
How are medical certificates protected?
They are health data: encrypted storage, hosting in the region you require, access limited to the club officer and the federation, and a fixed retention period, for example 3 seasons. These points are detailed in the quote.
Can members pay in instalments?
Yes, direct debit in 2 or 3 instalments is included from the medium band. It reduces drop-offs on family licences, which often exceed 250 EUR.
How long does the project take?
Allow 4 to 6 months, ideally going live in June for a late-August opening, after a pilot with 10 to 20 clubs.
Do clubs need training?
A 45-minute video session and a short guide are usually enough for club secretaries. The federation keeps a dashboard to follow up with clubs that fall behind.
Let's scope your project. Share your licence rules, payment flows and season calendar, and we will scope a portal deliverable in 4 to 6 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
