Bakhresa sponsorship uncertain
TNM Super League side Azam Tigers FC are facing uncertain future with their sponsors Bakhresa Malawi Limited, claiming that they were only offered K1 million out of K8 million for last season.
In an interview on Thursday, Tigers chairperson Sydney Chikoti said the situation has put them in an awkward position and are intending to seek legal action.
But Bakhresa human resource and compliance manager Richard Tchereko said they terminated the deal with Tigers FC.
Chikoti claims that among the agreements, was that they print Azam brand logo on their jerseys. Azam is the brand name under which Bakhresa trades its laundry soap and pay television network, among other products.
“We have been wearing those branded jerseys for the whole season, but we have literally benefited nothing,” he said.
“Azam Tigers FC never raised any concerns with us after cancellation of the support and we are hearing such concerns for the first time through you,” he said
Chikoti alleged that Bakhresa was supposed to be paying the club K1 million monthly, but it only fulfilled that in the first month of the season.
“Our efforts to get more funding did not materialise. It was the worst season because we had to adjust a lot financially to remain competitive,” he said.
He said they asked Super League of Malawi (Sulom) to intervene in their case, but it did not yield anything.
“Bakhresa officials were not cooperative when we asked them for a meeting to resolve the matter,” he said.
But Tchereko, however, said they are no longer supporting the team.
“Bakhresa Malawi Limited amicably terminated the football sponsorship support which we had with Azam Tigers FC last year,” he said.
But Chikoti added that they are now left with no option but to seek legal redress on the matter.
“If they were not happy that we are carrying their brand on our jerseys then they should have stopped us. But they didn’t which means they were happy with that arrangement.
“We feel we have been duped and we need a legal solution so that we can be paid the money,” he said.
Sulom general secretary (GS) Williams Banda confirmed that Tigers lodged the sponsorship complaint with the league runners.
“Bakhresa were engaged at some point and they said they would look at their financial position and map the way forward,” he said.
Banda said Sulom will review the matter during this off-season.
“This is the time most reviews are done so we can use this time to look into Tigers’ case,” he said.
The Sulom GS further said they will make a better analysis of the Tigers situation once they have accessed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two parties.
“I just hope that Bakhresa is thinking over it. Suffice to say that we haven’t yet seen the agreement to see what type of support the company is supposed to give the team,” he said. n
