13 Apr 2022

The senior women national football team, The Mares, need at least P7.2 million to fully prepare for the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations billed for Morocco from July 2 to 23. 

Speaking at a media briefing in Gaborone on Tuesday, Botswana Football Association (BFA), chief executive officer, Mfolo Mfolo said the technical development committee met in March and developed a plan, which the BFA national executive committee adopted. 

“It is not only about participating, but we also want to make an impression. We are making a maiden appearance, so we are not just going there to enjoy the beautiful country of Morocco. It is also about going there to be counted,” he said. 

He said after the plan was approved, it was passed to the general manager to operationalise it. 

“The cost of our plan is P7.2 million, which as BFA we do not have and we need that money now, so that we fully operationalise this plan,” Mfolo said. Therefore, he said, the team needed assistance from both private sector and parastatals given that government and BFA alone could not manage. 

Mfolo said The Mares had  finished their first training camp, which started on April 4, adding that preparations would entail playing two friendly games against Zambia away during the week of April 24-30. 

From May 8 to 18, Mfolo said, The Mares will travel to South Africa where they would utilise a high performance centre in Pretoria. 

He said their intention was to play against Sundowns and AmaTuks women teams, adding that they could also play Banyana Banyana, depending on their availability. 

He said from June 1 to 10, they would have a local training camp, adding that they were in consultation with other partners in Orapa and Jwaneng as they want to take the team out of the city. Mfolo said a final training camp would be from June 17 to 24 in Tunisia, adding that they had wanted to go to Slovakia, but it was not viable given the unrest in that area. ends