It doesn’t get sweeter than this. After successfully sponsoring the league for three years in a row, Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust (AYCT) in conjunction with Association of Lawyers from Bergamo in Italy have signaled their commitment to promoting football in Balaka, by almost tripling the sponsorship.
Andrew Galeta, executive director for AYCT, said in an interview on Monday that Andiamo has committed K1.5 million for this year’s competition, currently underway, after last year’s K500 000 sponsorship.
Despite the difficulty to find money for sponsorship Galeta said Andiamo is “committed to promoting football at grassroots level regardless of the sacrifice which is being made.”
“We would like to unearth rural talent at the same time trying to promote football in the district,” said Galeta.
Part of the action last year
This year the league, being played in a league basis in eight zones, has spread across the district to accommodate more teams from rural areas.
“So far the league has started very well and teams are taking the competition seriously. The number of teams that have registered has increased this year. We thank Andiamo for sponsoring this league again,” said Balaka Football League (BFL) vice chairman Richard Koloko.
The district champion will get K200 000 and a trophy, runners up will receive K150 000 while teams on third and fourth place will get K70 000 and K50 000 respectively. The most disciplined team will receive K20 000, top goal scorer and player of the tournament will receive K10 000 each.
There are also awards for the top four teams that will accumulate more points in the qualifying round at the zonal level will receive K20 000, K10 000, K7 000 and K5 000 respectively. The first two teams will secure the top 16 round of qualifiers.
By Bartholomew Kawina