Nico United, Eleven Angels, Calendar Stars, and Chadibe United will use the games to gauge their preparedness for the new football season in their respective divisions.
Nico and Angels compete in the country’s top division, the Botswana Premier League, while Stars and Chadibe campaign in the Debswana First Division North League.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday at the Cresta Thapama Hotel, one of the tournament organisers, Babe Makwinja said the competition is the brainchild of former TAFIC chairperson, Carlos Sebina.
She said the tournament was supposed to have started in 2019 but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Makwinja said the games will not only bring entertainment to the football-thirsty city of Francistown but will also benefit the teams physically and financially. She added that the business community in the city would also benefit from the tournament.
Makwinja stated that proceeds from the tournament would be used to benefit the underprivileged members of society. “We have so far managed to buy school shoes for some underprivileged students in schools around Francistown.
We hosted bonfires and also solicited funds from some citizen-owned companies in Francistown. It would be remiss of us to not thank all individuals and the business community for making sure that the tournament becomes a success.
We are, however, appealing to other business entities to come on board to make the tournament a big success,” Makwinja said. Representatives of the four clubs promised fireworks saying they will outdo each to get the first prize of P25,000. They also pleaded with their supporters to come to the stadium in large numbers and to behave well to attract more sponsors in future.
The second-best, third, and fourth-placed teams will each get P15,000, P7,500, and P2,500 respectively. In addition, Makwinja revealed that the best player of the tournament and young player of the tournament who is aged 21 and below will each receive P1,000 while the top goal scorer and best goalkeeper will each receive P750 for their efforts.
Francistown Deputy Mayor Lesego Kwambala echoed Makwinja’s sentiments. He urged the participating teams to rally their fans to come to the stadium in large numbers. He also added that the economic benefits of the tournament cannot be overemphasised. “Tournaments like this one can turn our city into a sports hub,” Kwambala said.
The Francistown Regional Football Association (FRAFA) chairperson, Fanyana Fish expressed delight that the tournament will go a long way in developing football in the region. “It will also give the teams the opportunity to identify their shortfalls before the season starts with a view to addressing them. I urge Stars and Chadibe to also strive to get promoted to the country’s elite league just like Angels and Nico,” Fish said.
