On the last day of February, we were treated to some good news from Football Kenya Federation.
The federation had signed a sponsorship deal with gaming firm MozzartBet for the FKF Cup. The competition will be called MozzartBet Cup.
The deal, we were informed, will run for three years to the tune of Sh60 million, and state owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) will airing the Cup matches live.
That was a very good move after a long time of drought as far as football sponsorship in Kenya is concerned.
We do not know the nitty-gritty of the contract but we are optimistic that it will at least make the tournament worthy and even more competitive for the teams. This is what we have been begging all the while and we will not tire.
The plea is now to the federation to seek other sponsors for the FKF Premier League and a serious broadcast partner for the same.
Several league seasons have ended, not with an explosion, but with a whimper. Some teams have won the league championship only to be given a wrong trophy!
The bounty for the winners has also not been forthcoming and the live streaming of league matches by teams has not given them as much funds as they would have received had they been under a broadcast partner for the league.
There are some small issues, that when corrected, will move our football to greater heights than we think.
All the major world leagues, for example, have a particular shape of the trophy given to the champions. It is the same kind of trophy through and through.
And when you see, say, English teams play, you already get the image of the trophy they will win! At the Fifa World Cup, you know it’s the golden trophy with the earth on top of it; the same goes for the Uefa Champions League.
In Kenya though, even a netball trophy has sometimes been awarded to the champions! We must have ouw own particular shape of Cup for league winners.
During the last match of the league season, the trophy is displayed in front of the dais and at the end of the match, a calligrapher embosses the winner’s name and year on the trophy! Have you ever seen that in our great country?
These may seem like petty issues but they are yardsticks of our organisational abilities.
We take the opportunity to thank the FKF Cup sponsors for the good move and hope they too will gain grand from it.
We also urge the other betting platforms to take a more active part in the sponsorship of sports because that is the core of their business. BY DAILY NATION