Africa-Press – Botswana. After registering his discontent at the way football is run, Botswana Football League (BFA) chairperson, Nicholas Zakhem is now a happy man.
Zakhem had turned into a fierce critic of the administration at the Botswana Football Association (BFA), with much of the criticism directed at the association’s president, Maclean Letshwiti.
However, all that has cooled and in an interview, Zakhem said there was no reason to continue on ‘attack mode’ if his concerns had been addressed. Zakhem said most of the issues he had raised, including the return to play, had been addressed. Football had gone almost two years without action. The league has reached the halfway stage but has had to run without a title sponsor. “This year there will be no title sponsor. There will be prize money for all the teams. We have not finalised figures but it’s going to be reasonable.
Obviously, it will not be as big as say when we have a sponsor,” Zakhem said. He said football can only attract sponsors if the house is in order. “We are going to knock on doors. BTC is still open for us.
We have a few options. We will have a marketing team and we will hire a professional marketing person and BFA will pay that person,” he said. Zakhem said the league has proceeded smoothly, although there are minor issues. “It is teamwork. The guys have been very helpful and supportive. We have achieved a big milestone after 20 months of layoff.
It could be better, but we are happy,” he said. He admitted there were struggles with finances, but they have a budget ‘fit-for-purpose.’ “There are no unnecessary expenditures, no sitting allowance. We are cutting every corner. It’s harmonic, the guys on the board are supportive.” He said transparency was key in the near-seamless return of football. The Orange FA Cup has been completed and Mascom has come on board to sponsor the Charity Cup. The popular Mascom Top 8 Cup will be played next season, but to plug the gap, the Charity Cup is scheduled for April. Zakhem said there is a deal in principle for the Mascom Top 8 for the next three seasons.
He said there is a lot of positivity after football emerged from the lengthy lay-off. “Even the president, Letshwiti was shocked how we were progressing. He is now happy there is something coming out of football. We need to accommodate each other,” he said. BFL was granted autonomy at the 2020 BFA general assembly.
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