Chigamula launches K1.8mil football trophy in Lilongwe
Almost two months after introducing the K750,000 Lefnos Chigamula Central Region Pool League sponsorship, Lilongwe based business magnet Lefnos Chigamula has launched a K1.8 million football trophy in Lilongwe City Centre Constituency.
The official launch of the competition took place on Saturday at Kalambo Primary School Ground in Lilongwe’s Area 25, where thousands of people gathered to witness activities marking the launch including a football match between Area 25 Select and Kauma Select.
Speaking in an interview during the launch, Chigamula said he was responding to calls from people of the constituency, who asked him to consider sponsoring football after he introduced the regional pool league a couple of months ago.
“When I offered to sponsor the Central Region Pool League, a number of people including elders from this area asked me to consider supporting grass-root football and looking at the number of youths from this constituency, who do not have a chance to play in the regional league or Super League, I decided to do something.
“There is a lot of football talent in this area, which can even benefit the national team in future and I want this to be a continuous process. The competition will run for six months and after that, I will sponsor another competition,” said Chigamula, who urged his fellow businessmen to give government a helping hand by sponsoring such tournaments.
Vice chairperson of the tournament’s organising committee Vyawo Chavula saluted Chigamula for taking heed of calls from the local people.
“There are a lot of school going and out-of-school youths in this area, who are going to benefit from this sponsorship. Instead of engaging in alcohol and drug abuse and other bad habits, the youth will now be engaged in football activities,” said Chavula.
Chavula said the tournament would start from zonal level with champions and runners-up from each of the four zones battling at constituency level. He said K300, 000 would be allocated for the zonal play-offs, where the four champions would get K100,000 each with the ultimate winner at constituency level pocketing K250,000.
According to Chavula, registration fee for the competition is K5,000 per team and open to any team not competing in the designated leagues under Football Association of Malawi.
During the main launching game, hosts Area 25 Select defeated Kauma Select 7-6 after post-match penalties. The two teams tied at 2-all after regulation time.
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