Moorosi Tsiane
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland brand manager-yum Thabo Ntšeoane
Fast food chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), has promised local kids an entertaining five-a-side football tournament on 2 May at a venue yet to be decided but in Maseru.
Speaking during the launch of the 16-team tournament at the famous outlet’s Maseru Mall branch on Tuesday, KFC Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland brand manager, Thabo Ntšeoane, said the event—dubbed KFC Football Beat—would be a treat for children between 10-14 years of age.
“For the next five weeks, interested youngsters will get a chance to go for trials at three Maseru KFC outlets at the Bus Stop, Pioneer and Maseru malls. The kids will test their skills through xbox kinect games penalty shootout after purchasing any of our products.
“The top 96 kids will then qualify for the next stage of the competition and be divided into 16 teams that will play each other in a round-robin format.
“They will be in two categories—10-12 and 12-14 age-groups. We have budgeted around M250 000 for this event and I think it is a good investment for the kids,” Ntšeoane said.
According to Ntšeoane, the tournament is meant to encourage the children to network and also bring the KFC brand to the community in an entertaining way.
“This is just our way of helping kids to network and form new friendships, while at the same time, we are bringing our brand closer to the community,” said Ntšeoane.
The event, Ntšeoane added, would be held annually and was expected to be bigger in coming years, with more sporting codes apart from football.
“We decided to start with football because it is the most popular sport in Lesotho, but as the event grows in future, we hope to add other sporting disciplines.
“A similar competition has already been running in Botswana and Namibia, while in South Africa, they are playing cricket,” said Ntšeoane.
“There will be coaches from the community, football legends who will be sourced through the Lesotho Football Association to work with the 16 teams.”
Ntšeoane further said there would be no monetary prizes but the winning teams are going to be presented with medals, branded shirts, caps and water-bottles.
