Halls Truck Division (HTD) on Wednesday morning made history by becoming the first company to sponsor a Beach Soccer national competition in the country.
Speaking to members of the press at the company’s Headquarters in Blantyre, HTD Chief Executive Officer Harris Sidik revealed a two-year deal worth K20 million a a year for the Beach Soccer National Championship.
Sidiki said his passion for Beach Soccer prompted him to come up with the package when the company heard that the sport was lacking funding.
“We have been involved in Beach Soccer for a long time and when we heard the plea about sponsorship for the game, we knew that the right time has come for us to come in officially and assist the game.
“Regardless of the economic challenges we are going through as a country and a company, we still decided to come in and assist because of the passion that we have for the game, and it is our sincere hope that this sponsorship will help improve the quality of beach Soccer in the country.
“At HTD, we believe that Beach Soccer is more than just a sport but a fusion of culture and our heritage as we showcase our beautiful country, especially Lake Malawi to the world, so apart from sports, we are also promoting tourism in the country,” said Sidik.
FAM President Walter Nyamilandu said the association is excited to have a first ever official corporate partner Beach Soccer in the country.
“We are very happy to have secured a partner that is very passionate about Beach Soccer. We are now assured of competitive beach Soccer on the shores of lake Malawi, and this shows that we are serious of taking beach Soccer to another level in the country.
“The sponsorship is a motivation to us because we want to have sand stadiums in other areas apart from the Lakeshore and we are now exploring on hosting an international Beach Soccer tournament in the country, so we need such gestures,” he said.
Beach Soccer Association of Malawi Chairperson Gift Chimbalanga said the sponsorship is a morale booster to the Beach Soccer National team which is currently in camp preparing for 2021 Beach Soccer Afcon qualifier second leg encounter against Tanzania over the weekend.
“The boys will be excited to hear this because they know they will have something to do when they come back from Tanzania. Winning the match against Tanzania is the only way we can pay back to HTD and we are going to encourage the boys to work hard and qualify for Afcon” said Chimbalanga.
The Beach Soccer National Championship is scheduled to be launched in September this year.
