19 Jan 2016

Footballers Union Botswana (FUB) has engaged its members and stakeholders in an administration and management course in Gaborone.

The course, which will run for a week, would be attended by football legends from the southern part of the country. 

FIFA development officer for southern Africa region, Ashford Mamelodi, will conduct the course

Speaking during an opening ceremony, Botswana Football Association CEO, Kitso Kemoen, acknowledged the good work done by FUB in empowering players.

Kemoen said BFA had a good relationship with FUB, therefore it was in their best interest to formalise the relationship.

“We have only one choice and it is to formalise our relationship, it is not about any other option because we believe FUB is a key stakeholder,” he said.

He also appreciated the way other stakeholders like FUB had been contributing to the running of football. 

The stakeholders, he said, had been helpful in so many ways by being able to resolve the challenges while BFA carried the other end of the burden.

He further said FUB had been pivotal in resolving issues affecting players. 

He said Botswana football faced some serious problems such as player movements.

“We are challenged by helping our young players, some move to wealthy teams of which they find themselves being paid a triple of what they got from their previous teams,” he said.

Young players, he said, needed assistance on how to spend money.

Therefore, Kemoeng said FUB had a challenge in helping players.

FUB general secretary, Kgosana Masaseng, said, “we have conducted coaching courses before, but this one is for the players who are not interested in the technical aspect of the game but rather in the administration field,” he said.

He further said the hope was for their member to be involved in football administration at some point.

He said involving retired players was a way to help the legends to contribute to football.

Msaseng said  the idea was to give them necessary training, then hopefully they will join their respective regions where they will practice their training. 

He said the idea was to get former players involved with football in regions, because people would relate with them better.

For his part the DHL country general manager, Mokgethi Magapa, advised football administrators to make sure they package their football so it could appeal to sponsors.

Magapa said there was need to improve the image of football or else companies would shy away from spending their dividends.

He also said football had long changed from being a recreational sport. Ends