FDH Bank Plc has revised the sponsorship package of the prestigious FDH Bank Cup from MK120 million to MK150 Million for the 2024 season.
This was announced by the bank on Monday during the 2023 prize presentation ceremony at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre.
Marketing Manager Ronald Chimchere says the bank is committed to football development in Malawi hence revising the package at the start of each season in the last three seasons.
“Before I give the details, I would like to mention that we are committed to developing football in Malawi, and as you are aware, this will be the fourth season. Initially, we signed a five-year contract and would want to fulfill our promise if you may also recall, the first season was at MK90 million, and looking at the economic environment, we saw it wise to push the amount to K130million before this new package of K150 million.
“We hope that this will ignite more competition, but also to push the teams further not only at the national level but also at the district level to try to push into the semifinals,” he said.
He then revealed that details for the new package will be announced in due course.
He further expressed joy at how the 2023 season unfolded.
“The main highlight for the 2023 season was FCB Nyasa Big Bullets becoming the first team to win it back-to-back, having won the second season. They set a record as the first and only team to defend the cup, but also when you look at other aspects, it was quite an exciting season where we have seen a quite number of players coming up and one of them is the Discovery of the Tournament from Santhe Admarc and we have also seen some teams that came through.
“It was quite exciting for us because as a bank sponsoring this cup, what we want is to unearth talent at all levels so we are happy with what has happened so far and we are looking forward to the new season,” he said.
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Chairperson for the Competitions Committee Felistus Dossi said the association is excited with the latest development.
“We are very excited with the increase. We had discussions with all our sponsors when the year was just starting and one of them was FDH Bank to map the way forward for 2024 one of the issues we discussed was the increase of sponsorship.
“So today we are excited and delighted that they have considered our proposal and have increased the sponsorship with an extra K30 million,” she explained.
She added that the new package is in line with FAM’s vision of commercializing the game so that the sponsors should also gain value from football.
“As FAM, this is one of the pillars that we are driving at. We need to at least give value to the sponsors that we have. So as part of that pillar, what we had discussed when the year was starting was to engage the sponsors. There is an issue of devaluation and when you look at the money that was pumped into football years back, you cannot compare the value now so I think as one way of commercializing the game, we said if the money is increased, we could see a lot of competition, a lot of fans coming to patronize the games and everything,” she added.
She then reassured the football fraternity that FAM is reviewing Mpira TV to make clubs realize more money from TV rights.
“At the moment, we have a schedule of where we want to meet our sponsors for Mpira TV. We just want to review and see areas where we can improve because it’s a project that is in its second year. So we just want to see how we have performed and see maybe if there are opportunities for revenue for FAM and teams as well,” she concluded.
During the event, FDH Bank and FAM rewarded players for their outstanding performances in the 2023 season.
Bullet’s Patrick Mwaungulu was named Player of the Tournament while William Thole won the Golden Glove award.
Forward Hassan Kajoke won the Golden Boot award while Santhe Admarc goalkeeper Zahaya Malithano won the Discovery of the Tournament award.
Mwaungulu expressed his joy in winning the award.
“I am delighted with this award because it’s a motivation for me to keep on pushing. I want to keep on doing well when I am in the field of play. I am targeting to play outside Malawi so that I can fulfill my vision,” he said.
