Mbatha will effectively replace Solomon Ramochotlhwane who hurriedly quit last year October. Speaking at a press briefing in Gaborone today, Mbatha said he main challenge will be to commercialise and professionalise the league. “We have some ground to cover. The priority is professionalise and commercialise the league. We need to get the people back to the stadiums,” Mbatha said. He admitted there is a lot of spadework to be done and that success will not be achieved overnight. Mbatha indicated, most of his roadmap will come from the BFL 2023-2026 strategy as they endeavour to come up with a competitive league.
He said it is imperative to create good impressions in order to attract sponsors. The BFL lost a number of partners in recent years and Mbatha has his work cut out as he tries to lure sponsors back. Botswana Football Association chief executive officer, Mfolo Mfolo said Mbatha had proved to be the right fit as he had a football and commercial background. “Some of the candidates had a strong football background while the commercial aspect was missing. It was the reverse with the others, but Mbatha has a combination of both,” Mfolo said.
BFL chairperson, Nicholas Zakhem highlighted that COVID-19 had impacted their operations, with some potential sponsors hard hit by the pandemic. He expressed optimism Mbatha will drive the league body forward.
