The Maravi Post

BLANTYRE--Carlsberg Malawi will this year spend K50 million on football.

The company's Chief Executive, Albel Chanje, broke the news Friday night at Ryalls Hotel in Blantyre.

“The K50 million has been split in three with the Mighty Wanderers and Big Bullets getting K15 million each and K20 million going to the trophy,” said Chanje.

He said there are conditions attached to the sponsorship which if not followed  would quickly bring to an end its support.

"We say that we start sponsoring on condition that what caused the withdrawal of the then sponsorship won’t reoccur. We want fair play and discipline in the game,” said Chanje.

While boasting that his company could be the largest tax payer to the government, he promised that Carlsberg will always have Malawians at heart thereby giving them what is lacking in the society.

He added they were doing all they could to compliment government's effort in developing sports in the country and advised soccer fans not to lose the opportunity at hand through indecent behavior.

Minister of Information and Civic Education, Moses Kumkuyu graced the occasion on behalf of Sports Minister Enock Chihana who is attending the Commonwealth Olympics in London.

In his speech, Kumkuyu thanked Carlsberg for the sponsorship and advised soccer fans to refrain from acts that could leave the game in disrepute, saying sponsorship was hard to get but could be lost easily.

Football Association of Malawi President, Walter Nyamilandu also gave kudos to Carlsberg and reminded the gathering how the association struggled to secure sponsorship in the past years due to violence during football matches.

“Let us all work together to curb out violence during matches. As FAM, we are not going to allow violence because it was not easy to secure sponsorship and we stayed a long time without sponsorship,” said Nyamilandu.

Big Bullets chairman, Malinda Chinyama and Mighty Wanderers general secretary, David Kanyenda vowed to safeguard the sponsorship by sensitizing their followers to avoid hooliganism.

The sponsorship comes 8 years after Carlsberg withdrew the prestigious Carlsberg Cup because of hooliganism at the stadiums.

The coming in of the Carlsberg trophy brings the total of registered tournaments to four namely TNM Super League, Standard Bank and the ongoing Presidential Cup whose final will be played recently.
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment.