It’s E900 000 at stake!

PLS Chairman Victor Gamedze shakes hands with SPTC acting MD representative John Nsibande during the presentation of the PLS/Swazi Telecom Trade Fair Cup sponsorship. (Pic: Ntuthuko Dlamini)

MBABANE – A whopping E900 000 is up for grabs in this year’s edition of the PLS/Swazi Telecom Trade Fair Cup which kicks off tonight.

The tournament is jointly sponsored by the Premier League of Swaziland (PLS) and Swazi Telecom. The package which shows an increment of E250 000 from the previous tournament, styled Ultimate Home Cup  last year, was announced by Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) acting MD representative John Nsibande yesterday. This transpired during the launch of the 12-team knockout soccer event at the SPTC boardroom in Mbabane.

A lion’s share of the money amounting to E700 000 was pumped in by SPTC while the PLS added the rest.
In his address, Nsibande said the tremendous success of the first edition of the tournament prompted the company to stay on board.

“When we initiated the work on this project last year, we were not sure exactly how much support we would be able to garner. But given the solid support from all stakeholders, especially the Premier league of Swaziland, we staged a successful tournament,” Nsibande said.
“Again in the context of the bigger picture, our involvement in football is just but one of our many social investment initiatives.

Swazi Telecom is doing a lot in terms of giving back to communities, donating to worthy and deserving causes and contributing to the economic growth and development agenda.”

PLS Chairman Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze was appreciative of the partnership and thanked Swazi Telecom for keeping the fire burning.
“We’re hoping for an increased package in future, especially if teams pump in more votes during the voting exercise,” he said.

According to a prize breakdown released during the launch, the champions will pocket E450 000 while the runners-up will get E170 000.  The third placed team to be decided after a losers final will become E80 000 richer. Winners of the coveted Player of the Series and Top Goalscorer awards will walk away with E5 000 and E4 000, respectively.

A double header pitting the quartet of Manzini Sundowns, RSSC, Young Buffaloes and Sea Birds will mark the start of the tournament. The first two teams will play at 7pm while the others will storm the field of play two hours later. The two companies started partnering last year to bring back the tournament which is played during the Swaziland International Trade Fair which also starts today. Glamour giants Mbabane Swallows are the defending champions after winning it ahead of Young Buffaloes.
The capital city giants walked away with E400 000.

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