Local league faces World Cup dilemma

Botswana Football League (BFL) chairperson, Nicholas Zakhem says the league body took into consideration the World Cup schedule when drawing up fixtures in order to avoid counter-attractions.

The local league is scheduled to kick-off on Saturday after a delayed start and it comes at a time when the eyes of the world will be on Qatar, which hosts the 2022 World Cup. The global showpiece, to be held from November 20-December 18 is expected to be football’s main draw card over the four weeks of action.

This could put the local league in the shadows, particularly following delays in the season kick-off. However, Zakhem said the World Cup fixtures were considered when the local league schedule was drawn.

“We tried by all means to ensure the fixtures do not clash through our kick-off times.

We will have very rare midweek fixtures. We expect to be done by May as per the schedule,” Zakhem said in an interview.

Despite concerns over the delayed start, Zakhem noted that last season also began on October 29 and despite two editions of the Orange FA Cup, the programme was completed on time. This year, there will be no Mascom Top 8 after the sponsor pulled out, while there will be a mid-season break between December

22 and January 7.

Zakhem said unlike last season, which was marred by the high profile case of Township Rollers defender Onkarabile Ratanang, he expects no issues with player registration. Last season, it was the first time the local game adopted the FIFA connect registration system, which almost disrupted the completion of the league.

“This year, hopefully everyone will abide by the laws. It is going to be a competitive season and we might see new teams in the top four,” he said. Zakhem also said it was better to have a delayed start with all systems in place. “We will not compromise simply because people want football. We have to ensure that everything is in place first.” He said clubs will receive grants and there will be prize money at the end of season despite there being no title sponsor for the league.

However, Zakhem said reliance on grants should be a thing of the past as all clubs, as per the conditions of Club Licensing, indicated they had sufficient

budgets to sustain the league campaign. “Club Licensing tells us your bank account is good. This is why I was opposed to provisional licenses last time,” he said.

The league start was delayed after five clubs failed the Club Licensing vetting system before they were given a lifeline by the Botswana Football Association National Executive Committee. There were further concerns when the BFL chief executive, Solomon Ramochotlhwane resigned just days before the season kicked-off.

The global showpiece, to be held from November

20-December 18 is expected to be football’s main draw card over the four weeks of

action