The Botswana Football League (BFL) 2023/24 season may resume on September 16th, 2023, and that is if all the plans go accordingly. This was confirmed by BFL Communication Officer Mosimanegape Tshoswane this week. According to him, the commencement of the league will be determined by the availability of the title sponsor, an aspect the board is currently working on.
Tshoswane indicated that in the past, the league has had to resume without title sponsors, but was quick to point out that they are working around the clock to make things right to ensure a more competitive and attractive league. He told Times Sport that in the past four seasons, convincing and securing sponsors had been one of the most daunting challenges, considering the downtime necessitated by the Covid 19 pandemic and previous relations with the corporate world in Botswana.
However, Tshoswane has assured that progress has been made in their hunt for sponsorships for the league title, Charity cup, Top 8 and the Super Cup, which includes all the 16 Premier League Clubs. He is hopeful that negotiations and agreement will soon be concluded before the start of the season.
Tshoswane revealed that the fixtures for the new season have already been drafted and approved by the BFL board and they are awaiting stakeholders’ approval at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) set for September 2nd, 2023.
Meanwhile, BFL’s football operations-manager Patrick Motsepe has revealed that they have also managed to go through club licensing requirements, noting that all the 16 participating teams have passed and they are ready for the new season.
He said club licensing issues has given them headache last season resulting into the suspension of five teams after failing the requirements. He is however pleased that this season will be different because all the participating teams have complied.
For his part, BFA head of competitions and football operations Olebile Pilara revealed that they have advised the league committee to resume the new season within the association’s football calendar which starts from August 2023 up to May 2024. Pilara noted that they therefore await to hear from the committee about their decision to resume the 2023/24 season which they hope will start either by the end of August or beginning of September 2023 and end by 31st May 2024….
