Leemisa Thuseho
THE A-Division Management Committee (ADMACO) has announced the return of Nedbank Lesotho as the A-Division Top 8 sponsors.
The announcement was made during a press conference at Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena, this week.
The announcement came after ADMACO early this month announced that this year’s competition would be financed by the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA). This after Nedbank said it was unlikely to bankroll the tournament this year because of financial challenges.
While awaiting Nedbank’s final answer, ADMACO conducted the draw for the tournament a fortnight ago and set the dates for the matches.
However, last week Nedbank confirmed that it would still sponsor the event.
Nedbank started sponsoring the tournament in 2019. In 2020 and 2021 the tournament was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking at press conference, Nedbank marketing manager, Sekonyela Matamane said they were happy to return as sponsors.
“We are happy to have gotten another opportunity to be part of the tournament despite the Covid-19 pandemic induced challenges,” Matamane said.
Matamane also acknowledged LeFA’s commitment to take over funding the tournament.
Nedbank is also sponsoring the A-Division Champion of Champions competition where the winners of the league’s two streams (North and South) will compete for the season’s overall tittle.
Initially, the games were set to competition this weekend, but they have now been moved to the end of the month.
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ADMACO chairperson, Tšeliso Ramatla, said they were quick to announce the dates and conduct the draw because they wanted the games to be played and finished early next month.
He also said the teams were putting pressure on the association because they had been preparing for the tournament since February.
“When we realised that it was taking long for us to confirm the availability of our sponsor, we approached LeFA for assistance and they were ready to take over.
“We couldn’t wait as the teams were pressuring us because they had been training since their last league games and had been asking when the tournament would be held. The process of continuing the preparations was costing the teams lots of money, therefore, we had to ensure that the dates were early. Teams were even starting to lose hope.
“We were also avoiding to playing the game in the upcoming cold winter months,” Ramatla said
Nedbank is going to inject M250 000 in both tournaments. The money will be used for tournament logistics, teams’ jerseys and prizes.
The Top 8 winners will walk away with M25 000 while the second placed team will get M20 000. The third and fourth teams will each get M15 000 and M13 000 respectively.
Four teams that will be knocked out in the quarterfinals will get M10 000 each.
The top goal scorer, goalkeeper and player of the tournament will get M2000 and a trophy each.
In the Champion of Champions tournament, the winner will get M25 000 while the losers will get M15 000.
All the games will be played at Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena.
