20 Aug 2019

 Botswana Football Association, chief executive officer Mfolo Mfolo says all premier league teams should comply with club licensing requirements. 

Speaking at a press briefing on August 20 , Mfolo said failure to comply would have serious repercussions, and failure to maintain at least one active youth team would attract a fine of P5 000 and the offender shall be given a final grace period of 60  days to assemble the team, 

He said the fine  would also attract an automatic deduction of six points upon expiry of the deadline.

Further, Mfolo said  failure to maintain and operate an office shall attract a fine of P2 000 and the offender shall be given a final grace period of 30 days to operate an office, failing which, it  would attract an automatic deduction of six  points upon expiry of the deadline.

Regarding the sponsorship, Mfolo said the First Division leagues would still be sponsored by Debswana adding that the three boards that were tasked to adjudicate over the sponsorship had successfully concluded their mandate.

He said that the Debswana sponsorship amount would be unveiled soon, but noted that it was a substantial increase compared to the last sponsor.

“The sponsorship was P2million for three seasons, so there is going to be a substantial increase to cater for inflation and other variables that are important to support our teamsand  match officials to do a good job in the field of play,” he said.Regarding the status of BTC sponsorship, he said the company had agreed in principle to continue sponsoring the Botswana Premier League.

“And let me demystify the perception that BTC had pulled out of sponsoring the Premier League. Yes it is true they were not happy and remember we signed a three year deal at a tune of P39 million, but they were not happy with the performance of the sponsorship,” he said.

Mfolo said BTC was a listed company in the stock exchange, and they need to do well, adding that football was the only vehicle that could drive the mileage of any sponsor.

“Then we have to work to make sure that sponsor is happy,.There are aspects that they raised which amounted to breach of contract amongst them failure to implement e-ticketing,” he said.

The CEO said e-ticketing was important for the sponsor, particularly for the category A and B games, because in every ticket the sponsor was going to get P5 from every ticket, so that they invest it in other operations that they had. He said another concern raised by BTC was failure to brand the tickets, given that some teams were bringing the name of football into disrepute by using hardcover pages as tickets.

“Those kind of habits must be condemned with the utmost word. That they must never happen in the game of football,” he said.

BTC, he said, was also not happy with the national broadcast that they were sold, because initially 60 games were supposed to be televised but only 42 were only televised at the end of the league.

He said all the clubs which failed to play would also face the music, as points would be deducted or be expelled from the league for failure to comply with the club licensing. BFA Technical director, Serame Letsoaka said no coach would be allowed to seat on the bench without CAF B Licence, but said from next year all coaches will be required to have CAF A License in order to lead the Premier league side.ENDS