28 Feb 2022

Lucara Botswana has been hailed for advancing the country’s economy and highlighting football as an instrument for community building and development.

Botswana Football Association representative, Carlos Sebina, said this on Friday during Lucara sponsorship launch.

Lucara, he said, had committed to sponsoring Boteti Regional football teams with P750 000.

Sebina indicated that, from the last sponsorship, they noted a significant growth that did not only indicate understanding of a need, but also marked dedication to address such need and reach desirable goals.

In 2019/2020 season, Lucara sponsored Boteti region with P500 000 per season for two seasons.

“With you, we have impacted positively on the lives of the underprivileged, this has inspired us, as an organization and we remain excited of what will unfold in our journey as partners since 2019/2020,” he said. Sebina stated that Lucara had set a good precedence to companies in other regions across the country.

He noted that through football, youths were kept away from the streets and given an opportunity to earn a living.

For his part Lucara Botswana general manager, Johane Mchive, implored players to continue working hard to attract more sponsorship from Lucara.

He stated that a player should be physically fit and disciplined, representing Lucara brand in a good manner.

Performance growth, he said, should not only apply to teams but players should also grow as individuals and advance to premier league teams.

 “We want to be able to document the journey of a player from regional games to premier league games,” he said.

Boteti Regional Football Association chairperson, Phillimon Bunu, said he was thankful of the sponsorship.

Bunu said they were joined by many teams, which were from constituency league and the move came with its positives and negatives.

He stated that they had 13 teams and the sponsorship would be shared amongst them reducing the sponsorship share per team.

Referees, he said, were owed a lot of money, citing that full payment of referees and their gear were taken care of by Lucara.

A team that would get position one, Bunu said, would walk away with P25 000 prize money, trophy and medals, position two would get P10 000 and three would get P5000.

He further indicated that the region had 3.7 hectares plot, adding that they needed funders to help with construction of a sports complex. The aim of construction of a sports complex, he said, was to ensure that the region remained financially sustainable.

He stated that they needed P1 million to erect the sports complex fence. ENDs