adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Zifa Northern Region Division One soccer league leadership have revealed that they are yet to finalise on the sponsorship deal offered by their sponsors from last year, World Navi.
The Northern Region partnered World Navi, a company involved in selling Japanese second hand cars last year on a one-year agreement, which saw the latter sponsoring the league in the previous season.
The deal included three cars, one meant for the Soccer Star of the Year and the other two for the raffle draws while the clubs got playing kits.
They also got US$20 for each car sold in Zimbabwe.
And the Japan-based company have indicated their interest to continue with the partnership this year.
Northern Region league chairman Willard Manyengavana said there are some improvements on this year’s deal and they were hoping to conclude the deal soon.
“We got an offer from World Navi, they have given us their terms for this year. In fact I can say they are willing to come back.
“They have given us their offer which we have not yet signed because normally the ceremony is done in Japan.
“So what we are waiting for now is finalisation in terms of signatures. They have modified it a little bit.
“It’s now going to benefit individual players more, for example there is the player of the month award and player of the year. In the previous deal there was only the player of the year. They have also put in coach of the month and coach of the year as well,” said Manyengavana.
Manyengavana yesterday conceded that some of the programmes they were targeting such as the raffle tickets were a flop for the two cars.
“The set-up we had last year was more based on the raffle tickets and sale of vehicles. We had US$20 for each car that was sold in Zimbabwe and we were also supposed to get revenue from the raffle tickets but unfortunately the two did not give us much in terms of rewards.
“The raffle was not successful as well as the sale of vehicles was low.
“World Navi agreed to renew the agreement this year because of what we have done. They did not make any meaningful sales last year, they only came back because of our contributions in terms of brand visibility.
“I think we did very much, we are not in the business of selling vehicles so ours was to market.
“For clubs, we are hoping this time around should we go ahead and sign something that could see a slight improvement in terms of monetary rewards,” said Manyengavana.
Last year’s partnership saw the clubs getting playing kits and the Soccer Star of the Year walked away with a car.
The Soccer Star of the Year award was won by Mushowani Stars’ Zivanai Mhanda and he will be leaving for Japan next month for trials at Vissel Kobe.
“In Japan their season is more or less the same with ours here, they start around March so from the discussion we had with the guys handling the issue we know he is supposed to go in February.
“According to them January is not the right time to go because it’s very cold so they prefer him going in February.
“Recently, we got some communication from them confirming they prefer having him in February but they also needed some sort of a video showing games he played and we have since communicated that with the club (Mushowani Stars).
“These guys (World Navi representatives) should be coming sometime in January and will assist with the visa,” said Manyengavana.
Online Reporter