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Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League will start sponsorship negotiations as well as plan for next season after their mid year extra-ordinary general meeting, an official has said. In an interview conducted at the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League offices on Monday night, the league’s chief executive officer, Kennedy Ndebele, said their focus was on completing this year’s programme with next year in mind.
Leading beverages manufacturer, Delta Beverages through their Castle Lager brand, unveiled a three-year $600 000 sponsorship package per season for the elite league in 2011. It included prizemoney in addition to the various individual prizes for players like the monthly player and goalkeeper of the month awards as well as end of year awards.
The package saw last season’s champions Dynamos, who pipped Bulawayo giants Highlanders to the throne by virtue of a superior goal difference, getting $70 000 while Bosso walked home with $50 000 as runners-up.
“By now we should be preparing for the 2014 season in many respects. There are issues to do with sponsorships and rules which we have started working on. Sponsorship negotiations with commercial partners will commence soon and hopefully in the next coming weeks after our mid season meeting,” Ndebele said.
Besides Delta Beverages, other PSL partners include BancABC who bankroll the league’s Sup8r tournament, giant diamond mining company Mbada Holdings who are sponsors of a 16-team competition as well as NetOne who fund a pre-season Charity Shield.
The Castle Lager Premiership season is approaching its halfway mark with clubs having played 13 of their 30 matches. The league is on a two-week break due to the national team’s commitments in the World Cup qualifiers and resumes on 19 June.
The BancABC Sup8r tournament and the Mbada Diamonds Cup will be played in the second half on dates yet to be announced.
“We will be engaging Zifa after the Guinea game to find out their programme and strategy with regards to the Cosafa Cup set for next month in Zambia. I have heard that South Africa is sending a full strength team to Zambia and if Zifa decides to use some of the players who are on off-season that will be a bonus for us because we will be able to play our matches.
“Our target is to complete the season by end of November and seeing that we played the first half in three months I believe it is possible to finish the season before December,” said Ndebele.
The Premiership said their only concern about the first half were crowd disturbances.
There were skirmishes in Zvishavane in matches involving Shabanie Mine against Highlanders and Harare City. In another instance just before the break, Hwange supporters are said to have stormed onto the pitch during their home match against Highlanders leading to a three-minute stoppage.
Ndebele urged clubs to embark on supporter education so that they avoid unnecessary expenses that they are subjected to in disciplinary charges.
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