THE renewal of the sponsorship deal between mobile telecommunication company, MTN Zambia and the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) is a positive move towards the growth of local football.
MTN and FAZ penned a juicy $3 million (K19.2 million) deal on Friday which will see the association receiving $1.5 million in 2015 and 2016 respectively with an option of renegotiating the contract in the third year.
The MTN sponsorship, which was initially $450,000 (K2.8 million) per year, is exclusively for the Chipolopolo and the Premier Division League.
This kind of partnership with the corporate world is what the ‘beautiful’ game needs to continue growing.
It is, however, disappointing that since 2007 when the Mosi Cup and Coca-Cola Cup disappeared from the local calendar, the nation only boasts of one club competition – the Barclays Cup.
The BP Top Eight also vanished despite the new owners of the oil marketing firm, Puma promising to revive the competition.
Hats off to Barclays Bank for their continued support to Zambian football despite the cup competition not benefitting the entire local football league structure.
The current set up of the Barclays Cup competition only involves top six clubs in the MTN Premier Division League and leaders in both Division One North and South, respectively.
So for Zambian football to continue growing, it is prudent that more companies come on board to support the sport.
I don’t believe that there are no other corporate entities around Zambia capable of joining hands with FAZ and set up other football competitions.
In fact by partnering with FAZ, these companies will be indirectly selling the services to their potential customers.
The same applies to support for other sporting disciplines in the country. It is my prayer that come 2015 we shall see more corporate support coming to Zambian sport.
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