LUCARA RENEWS BOTETI SPONSORSHIP
Lucara Diamond Company and Boteti region football have this past weekend renewed their initial sponsorship deal which elapsed last year.
The two parties signed a deal in 2019 worth P500 000 for two years but have now put pen to paper on a fresh new deal which is set to come to an end in 2024. Boteti football region are the only lower league amongst the 17 regions in the country who have a sponsor. Lucara’s involvement has been hailed as key milestone in the development of football in the region and in the country by Botswana Football Association’s (BFA) National Executive Committee (NEC) member, Carlos Sebina. “The level of competition in the region will significantly improve, and the beautiful thing is that the sponsor has already showed keenness to continue helping the Boteti region in the coming years. Boteti region has been doing very well in terms of managing sponsorships and running their league. The whole idea is that, the current BFA NEC wants to help all regions to identify sponsorships. We are hopeful that by the end of this year we should have at least three (3) more sponsorships,” Sebina stated. Sebina further noted that the association’s main mandate is to develop football in the country and once again reiterated that, development of football at regional level is imperative for the growth of local football, adding that it can also go a long way to influence success prospects of hosting 2027 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) finals. The Boteti region is currently looking to have a representative in the Debswana First Division North and the sponsorship is seen as an ideal catalyst to bridge the gap that currently exist at that level. In the last first division north promotional playoffs that took place in the region, Boteti region representatives, Perisa FC fell short, thanks to a two goals different as they came second best to Chadibe FC of Francistown region. The region’s chairperson, Philmon Bunu shared that the extension of the sponsorship comes at a good time as the teams are still reeling from the effects of COVID-19. “It is expensive to run a football team from one’s pocket and this sponsorship has enabled us to significantly improve the standards of our league. In the last sponsorship, we were even able to engage expert services of the likes of Philmon Makwengwe, Orapa United Technical Director to develop our league. Our team, Perisa FC, competed well at the play-off and we strongly
believe that with the new sponsorship, we will be able to go one step further. We want to have a team in the First Division,” Philmon Bunu shared.
The Boteti Regional Football Chairperson added that they take issues of accountability very seriously and noted that they do account, audit and share with both BFA and the sponsor all their expenditure to allow transparency on the usage of funds in the region. Winners of the current league campaign will walk away with P25 000, whilst 2nd placed and 3rd placed side will get P10 000 and P5 000 respectively. The region has 13 teams and all will be vying for a top finish come end of the season.