Standard Bank U-turns on cup sponsorship
Standard Bank has reversed its earlier decision to stop bankrolling the Standard Bank Knockout Cup.
The bank’s chief executive officer Andrew Mashanda said this on the sidelines of this year’s relaunch cocktail at Sunbird Mount Soche on Tuesday evening.
Last December, the bank, through its marketing head Chimwemwe Matonga, announced that this year’s competition would be the last because from next year, they were planning to shift focus to development football.
Mashanda announced the U-turn in response to a plea by Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to reconsider the decision.
Said Mashanda: “What we said last year was that if there was violence during the competition, we would channel the sponsorship towards football development.
“Nevertheless, we will continue to support them, as you heard from the FAM CEO, they prefer that we continue with the tournament.”
On his part, Nyirenda earlier said: “We believe that Standard Bank will continue sponsoring the tournament bearing in mind that it is bearing fruits. We, therefore, plead with Standard Bank to rescind their decision to stop sponsoring the tournament.”
Mashanda also announced the increase of the sponsorship from K25 million to K28 million that will see winners carting home K9 million, up from K8 million. Losing finalist’s prize has also been increased from K4 million to K5 million.
“It has been a challenging year economically, but we have still managed to increase the sponsorship and that demonstrates our commitment towards football development,” said Mashanda.
He said the bank holds dear the contribution that football makes to the development of the country.
“Football transcends boundaries and unites people regardless of their religion, race or cultural heritage. Coming from the World Cup fever, you will agree with me that for an entire month, football united the entire globe,” he said.
The bank also announced that the format of the tournament remains unchanged and the top six teams in the just-ended Super League season, defending champions Silver Strikers, Moyale, Mafco, Kamuzu Barracks, Mighty Wanderers and Blue Eagles— earn automatic participation while four teams that will meet in play-offs to fill the two slots available, will be decided by customers by voting which starts this Saturday in the bank’s branches.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Justin Saidi thanked Standard Bank for its continued support towards sports development, saying government has a true partner.
