Moorosi Tsiane
Naughty Boys president, Teboho Maqalika, has welcomed the Splitz Benefit Cup whose draw was conducted in Maseru on Wednesday.
The tournament is for first division teams and the four participants are chosen through a voting system.
In Wednesday’s draw, Naughty Boys face Roma Boys, while Manonyane play Majantja on 23 May. Both matches take place at Setsoto Stadium with the winners facing off in the final the following day also at Setsoto.
The winners would pocket M50 000, the runners-up M30 000, with the third and fourth-placed teams each getting M25 000 and M15 000, respectively.
According to Naughty Boys founder Maqalika, the draw could not have come at a better time for his side, which narrowly failed to qualify for the premier league next season.
The Maqalika-based outfit ended the A Division Northern Stream in second position behind Rovers, who grabbed the single premiership ticket at Naughty Boys’ expense.
“The competition has come at the right time for us because we narrowly missed promotion to the premier league. This is our great chance to win a trophy and give our supporters something to smile about this season,” he said.
Maqalika thanked the sponsors of the tournament, Splitz Marketing and Services, for the tournament.
“It’s that time of the year when league fixtures have ended and players spend a long time without tasting competitive football. That’s why I would like to thank Splitz for coming up with this idea because it is only when we have lots of competitions that our football can improve,” said Maqalika.
Splits Marketing and Services manager, Lebohang Thahanyane, said the competition would run for five years.
“We would want to ensure everyone involved in this competition benefits and this is a five-year partnership our company has entered into with the Lesotho Football Association. There were some challenges here and there but I can see this competition becoming a huge success,” Thahanyane said.
According to Thahanyane, the initial aim was to include premier league teams in the competition, which however, did not succeed due to some logistical challenges.
“It will be nice to have premier league teams in this tournament, the way we wanted it to be. Although we failed due to some logistical challenges, I still hope premier league teams would join the tournament in the coming years.”
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