Premier Bet will not co-sponsor league

Wa Ganyu

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has told sports minister Uchizi Mkandawire that Super League of Malawi (Sulom) will not proceed with plans to take Premier Bet as co-sponsor.

FAM president Fleetwood Haiya told the minister during a meeting held in Lilongwe yesterday when the minister asked the country’s football governing body to explain the controversy surrounding the league.

In his response Haiya said the move to take on board Premier Bet will be dropped, stressing that the betting company will sponsor football in another way.

“I wanted to seek clarity on the matter on how this will be handled without losing the sponsorship,” said Mkandawire.

In his response Haiya said they had discussions with all stakeholders and resolved to have TNM as the Malawi league’s sponsor.

“We had discussions with TNM and they will still sponsor the league as Premier Bet will sponsor football in another way,” he said.

The coming in of Premier Bet on March 30, complicated the league’s sponsorship as the current sponsor, TNM, was not happy and canceled plans of announcing the 2024 sponsorship package.

TNM is yet to announce the 2024 package as they also missed the 2024 league launch in Dedza. First week games the mobile company, who has been sponsoring the Malawi league for 17 years, did not brand in all venues and only came up over the weekend.