PSL to unveil sponsor

By Robson Sharuko
THE Premier Soccer League will wave goodbye to the dark days, when its championship race was not branded, when it unveils its new flagship sponsor in Harare on February 25.
The PSL have been battling for a corporate partner since CBZ Bank terminated its sponsorship deal for the league two years ago and Motor Action, who won the league championship last year, did not receive any financial rewards for their triumphant campaign.
Now the PSL leadership have tied up a deal with a traditional sponsor of domestic football, which has been watching from the sidelines since the turn of the millennium, but has now decided to come back into the game on a big scale.
“It’s now a done deal and we are unveiling our new sponsor in Harare on February 25 and that should be good news for our football,” said PSL chairman Twine Phiri.
“We have been working behind the scenes trying to get a good deal for the clubs and we are happy to announce that we have finally secured a good sponsorship package for them with a reputable firm that has been a big player in our football for a long time.
“Our football has suffered badly in the past few years and we have a responsibility to rebuild it and we are happy, as the PSL board of governors, to announce that we have taken the first step by securing this sponsor for our league championship.”
Phiri said it would be unfair on the sponsors for him to reveal their identity but speculation has been rife in the capital that Delta Beverages are now coming in as the official sponsors of the league through their Castle Lager brand.
The company, one of the best performing firms in the country whose excellent results have been felt by its parent international partner, has been a big player, in terms of sponsorship, in the country’s football fraternity since the ‘60s when it sponsored the Castle Cup and the Castle Soccer Stars of the Year.
But its relationship with domestic football was tainted by two events in the late ‘90s — an endless feud between Highlanders and CAPS United, which dragged the Natbrew Cup into a quagmire, and the farcical selection of players for the 1997 Soccer Stars of the Year calendar.
Now, after years on the sidelines, it appears Delta have decided to come back to a game that is traditionally supported by consumers of its products.
Phiri, though, preferred to discuss anything but the identity of their sponsors.
“I think it will be unfair for me to talk about our sponsors because this is not the right moment to do so and they want it done at the right time and moment when we launch our partnership on February 25,” said Phiri.
“But what is important right now is that we have secured a good sponsor and we have a starting point in our battle to try and turn our league into a truly professional top-flight league.
“The challenge is on us to protect the image of our sponsors because, as football leaders, we have not fared well in that field in recent years and that has been the reason why the companies have been staying away.
“Sponsors simply want to see the game being managed in a professional way and they want stories about players and coaches in the newspapers and not stories about chaos because that tends to drag their name into whatever problems will be affecting the game.”
The domestic Premiership is ranked as the 12th best league on the continent by the Confederation of African Football, giving it the luxury to field four, instead of two teams, in the Champions League and Confederation Cup tournaments every season.
Normally countries can only field two teams — one in either competition.
Harare giants Dynamos are ranked as the ninth best team in Africa and do not have to play in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League.
But for all its considerable weight in terms of its competitiveness, the domestic Premiership has struggled to attract corporate partners.
Last year only one company, BancABC, poured money into the PSL through its sponsorship of the BancABC Sup8r Cup, which was won by Dynamos, after beating bitter rivals CAPS United 3-2.
But that competition was also plagued by controversy following the abandonment of the semi-final tie between Dynamos and Highlanders at Barbourfields.
The case finally spilled into the High Court and there were genuine concerns, within the country’s football family, that the controversy had not only driven BancABC out of the domestic game but had hammered the final nail into the game’s coffin.
However, there are signs that the game could be heading for interesting times with reports indicating that BancABC have decided that they will have one more dance with the domestic Premiership through their BancABC Sup8r Cup tournament.
Already the Premiership leadership is also discussing with another sponsor the possibility of a deal for a 16-team knockout competition this year.
“There are a number of projects that we are working on and I think a number of companies were waiting for one big one to come on board because there is considerable excitement right now,” said Phiri.