Mfolo open to BFA return
Former Botswana Football Association (BFA) chief executive officer (CEO), Mfolo Mfolo has said he is open to a return to his old job after leaving the association under unceremonious circumstances in 2020.
The termination of his contract was linked to age-cheating allegations against Botswana’s Under-17 team. At the time the players failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan, which is used to determine the age of humans based on the organs and tissues in the body.
That was days before they could take part in the COSAFA tournament in South Africa.
The team was ultimately sent home from the tournament, an incident that many said was an insult to the integrity of the association. After the scandal, the BFA did not waste time in suspending Mfolo before his contract was terminated weeks later.
The termination of Mfolo’s contract did not please some officials because they believed he was made a scapegoat.
In a surprise turn of events, Mfolo has been widely tipped to return to the post where he would replace Goabaone Taylor who was dismissed last week.
Taylor was hired months after Mfolo left the association. Although he denies it, it is reported that Mfolo has been approached by the association in a bid to convince him to return. “About the possibility of returning, I will consider the offer if at all I am approached. For me, sports, football in particular, is my passion. I consider it as a calling.
That is why I never stopped contributing to the football development even after I left the BFA. You do not necessarily have to be at the BFA to contribute to sports development,” Mfolo told Mmegi Sport this week. “I have not been approached by BFA.
Currently, I am busy with my consultancy, assisting structures with technical and administrative aspects of sports.” BFA president, Maclean Letshwiti and some in the National Executive Committee are said to be keen to bring Mfolo on board.
Letshwiti reportedly feels that terminating Mfolo’s contract was a huge mistake after he was misled into releasing him. Until his departure in 2020, Mfolo was the longest-serving BFA CEO in recent times, having joined the association in 2017.