AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE government has given a thumps-up to Serengeti Breweries following their recent announcement to renew their sponsorship to the men’s national team, Taifa Stars for further three yea
In an agreement-signing ceremony held recently in Dar es Salaam, Serengeti Premium Lager, agreed to pump 3bn/- into the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), the steward of the national team, for another three years, thus renewing their sponsorship to the squad after the expiry of the previous contract, inked in 2017, in which the beer-maker bankrolled TFF with 2.1bn/- for a similar contractual period.
The addition of the fund could either be attributed to SBL’s confidence in TFF management or the team’s sterling performance, having achieved the near-impossible feat of qualifying for the prestigious African Cup of Nations (AFCON) last year after a 39-year absence.
Dr. Hassan Abbas, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, who graced the ceremony, praised Serengeti Lager, expressing his appreciation on behalf of the government, saying that the sponsorship echoed beer’s commitment to support the development of the sports sector in the country.
Abbas said: “This sponsorship proves that Serengeti Lager is among the biggest stakeholders in the development of soccer and indeed the entire sports sector in Tanzania; it is within the sponsorship period that Tanzania has produced highly talented footballers such as Mbwana Samatta who are now playing in very competitive European leagues”.
SBL Managing Director, Mark Ocitti, on his part, said that the beer-maker was aware of the significant role that sports play in the nation’s socio-economic development, noting that by once again sponsoring Taifa Stars, SBL was not only contributing to the growth of the sports sector but also reinvigorating local football.
“We have decided to renew the sponsorship to Taifa Stars after having been motivated by the national team’s exemplary performance within the past three years of our sponsorship and the enthusiasm displayed by soccer lovers across the country”, Ocitti said,
On hand to append the signature on behalf of TFF, was Wallace Karia, the national soccer body president who, while thanking Serengeti Lager for renewing the contract and the government for providing an enabling environment for the growth of the sports sector in the country, pledged to use the sponsorship to catapult the national team to international soccer glory.
“The renewal of this sponsorship is a clear testimony to the confidence that SBL has on TFF leadership; we promise that we will not let SBL down. Rather, we will endeavor to ensure that the money is spent prudently in order to catapult Taifa Stars’ to even higher altitudes of soccer excellence”, Karia said.
This latest sponsorship is a manifestation of Serengeti Premium Lager’s long history of sponsorship to the national team in many years, after a similar three-year sponsorship spell between 2010 and 2012, and the just-ended deal that the beer entered into with TFF in 2017.
