02 Sep 2024

A positive experience is not just a happy or satisfying moment, but an interaction that creates value, meaning, and connection for the people involved. 

It is an outcome that aligns with the purpose, vision, and values of the Botswana Football Association (BFA) that would foster trust, respect, and collaboration, among stakeholders. 

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a handover ceremony of football kits to Central North Regional Football Association teams recently, BFA president, Maclean Letshwiti said acknowledging and affording stakeholders a meaningful voice provided some checks and balances on the development of football. 

Furthermore, he said it created a productive two-way dialogue with those impacted and contributing to sport, thus increasing a sense of belonging, and in the process advancing democratic accountability. 

Therefore, he said it was against this backdrop that stakeholders’ engagement remained pivotal to the BFA structures in the course of developing sport in the country. 

He said creating positive experiences was not a once off event or a random act of kindness, but a deliberate and consistent practice that required a clear understanding of the needs, expectations, and preferences of stakeholders,as such engaging them remained paramount to the development of football. 

“Football is not only for the BFA, it should be a game of the people. I’m happy when I find a chief at stakeholder engagement sessions because dikgosi are custodians of land and therefore can facilitate allocation of land for construction of stadia and football pitches,” he said. 

He said football played a major role in attaining Vision 2036 goals and in particular, the pillar of Human and Social Development because the sport was part of developing a human being, creating unity and marketing the country. 

Letshwiti said the BFA as the mother body of football was doing everything in its power to support regional structures so as to grow the game of football. 

He said the BFA still harboured the ambition of hosting the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in future despite the 2027 AFCON bid not being successful, pointing out that the country had an opportunity to co-host such competitions with neighbours. 

Over and above, he said three nations; Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe or South Africa could jointly host the prestigious competition, arguing that such came with benefits; boost infrastructure development and promoted tourism for hosting countries. 

Most importantly, he noted in the longer term, a significant benefit of hosting a prestigious competition was an investment, which inevitably leaves a legacy of improved sporting venues, creation of jobs, as well as construction of hotels and roads. 

As for the association achievements and projects that were on the pipeline, the BFA second vice president, Maokaneng Bontshetse said Botswana had made remarkable progress with regard to securing sponsorships, partnerships and developments. 

He said Botswana was into partnerships with reputable football countries throughout the world, citing Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Turkey, among others. He said it was healthy for the growth of football in the country. 

He said BFA president would continue to build more of these partnerships, adding that as the association grew, there would come a point where regional football leadership would be invited together with national teams for benchmarking and job shadowing purposes so as to exchange notes. 

As for sponsorship, he said the need for such could not be over emphasised as Botswana National Teams were now training in Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey, among other countries. 

Bontshetse cited BFA’s First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) sponsorship deal in which the Botswana National Women’s team, The Mares were sponsored for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) that took place in Morocco, noting it was a breakthrough that reflected the association’s unwavering commitment to advancing sports in Botswana. 

To this end, he said the sponsorship was designed to do more than just provide support as it aimed to revolutionise the sport landscape in the country, nurturing local talent and guiding Botswana towards a more prosperous and victorious future in sports. 

Furthermore, he said they were engaging potential sponsors to lend a helping hand to the Central North Regional Football Association teams and remained optimistic that it would yield results.

 He said they were pondering training marketing officers of teams at regional level on how to solicit sponsorship for their teams. 

As for developments, he said there were currently four facilities that were on the the pipeline as they were to build fully-fledged stadia with dressing rooms, lawn, among other amenities in Kasane, Maun, Mahalapye and Kang.

 He said the wish was that each region could have its own facility, adding that these projects amounted to millions of pula. He indicated that funds permitting, they would roll out such facilities to other parts of the country to bring positive economic and social change to communities and promote the growth of football. 

The BFA donated kits to 13 men football teams across the region while eight women football teams are yet to receive their kits. 

Teams that received kits include Miscellaneous, Green Lovers, Tsabotlhe, Maphatswa, Motherwell, Mogorosi Young Fighters, Moi City, Siwelele, Winners Park Academy, Gold Stars and Daillers, among others. 

Appreciating the donation, the teams’ representative, Mr Gosalamang Maitiso said the impact of the kits to sport development in the region would be vast, given that some teams were struggling to buy kits. 

He said people in the region were commending the BFA for developing football in the country, noting that such deserved applause. 

He reiterated that the donation of soccer balls and kits was a step in the right direction to advance football in the country. Ends