(At Sigwaca House)
MBABANE – The champions of the inaugural Eswatini Children’s Cup will pocket E15 000, which will be used to fund the winning school’s needs.
The four-school football tournament in support of the SOS Children’s Villages across the country is sponsored by Easy Buy Supermarkets and Century Fashions in partnership with Freight Lux. The event will be staged at the Somhlolo National Stadium on Wednesday.
The four schools to battle it out for the E15 000 championships are Mpaka High, Masundvwini High, Manzini Central and Swazi National. Mbabane Central and an SOS select team will be a curtain-raiser for the finals.
This was revealed by Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Chairman Polycarp Dlamini during the kit presentation, which was accompanied by the tournament draw. The event, held at Sigwaca House yesterday, was attended by PLE Vice Chairman Sithembiso ‘Ngudze’ Mamba, who doubles as the tournament chairman and the sponsor’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ashraful Alam Chowdhurl, widely known as Mansur.
Also present at the event were SOS Acting National Director Bonsile Bhembe, Freight Lux Sales and Marketing Officer Thobile Shongwe, alongside teachers and pupils from the participating schools.
The PLE chairman revealed in his address that the tournament is sponsored to the tune of E300 000 by Easy Buy Supermarkets and Century Fashions, with Freight Lux adding E40 000 towards the initiative.
“We appreciate the sponsors’ support in partnering with us and SOS, which will help ensure that the children kept in villages are taken care of like any other child,” Dlamini said.
The former Mbabane Midas City goalkeeper said such a partnership would go a long way towards the well-being of the children.
“This tournament is the first of many to come and we are hoping that the next edition will be bigger and better. Who knows, maybe next year it will be sponsored to the tune of E3 million,” he joked.
Dlamini also thanked the sponsor for the kits presented to the competing schools, including those for the curtain-raiser between Mbabane Central High and the SOS select team. He urged schools not to use the kits for other competitions as they are strictly reserved for this tournament.
“I would also like to warn schools against the use of foreign substances in the games,” he added.
Bhembe said SOS was humbled by the support shown by the PLE and the sponsors towards the initiative, which aims to improve the lives of needy children both within SOS and across the country.
“This will not benefit us alone, as the champions will take the prize money and use it for their school’s needs,” she said.
Meanwhile, Chowdhurl urged the PLE to consider adding more schools to the next edition so that more pupils could benefit.
“This tournament will also help the country’s football to develop future stars who can go all the way to represent us in the World Cup in years to come,” Chowdhurl said.
Speaking on behalf of the schools, Mpaka High School Head teacher Mfanzile Bhembe said they were grateful for the charitable initiative and promised that the schools would go all out to support it.
“We have already mobilised the community back at Mpaka to support this great idea. We will come in numbers as four buses have already been secured for the trip to Somhlolo,” Bhembe said.
Pupils will have to buy a E10 ticket, while adults will fork out E20 as the entry fee to watch the matches.
The draw for the tournament was conducted by PLE CEO Pat ‘Kungumusa’ Vilakati, assisted by PLE Administrator Zandile ‘Momo’ Matse and Freight Lux Collections Officer Prudence Malinga.
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