Afrisports FC has signed a US$400,000 sponsorship deal with a local mining firm, the biggest by a lower league Zambian club. Afrisports is the club where Zambia striker Jacob Mulenga of FC Utrecht in Holland began his career while in the second division before heading to Europe to join French Ligue 2 side Chateauroux in 2004. The fourth division club is a household name in Zambia after also producing Zambia stars Rainford Kalaba, Stopilla Sunzu, Christopher Munthali and Aaron Katebe. Afrisports deal is a massive shot-in-the-arm for the Kitwe based club that plummeted to the fourth tier after making its only Super Division appearance in the 2005 season. And Afrisports open-ended deal will see the Kitwe-based gemstone giant Grizzly Mining take an undisclosed stake in the club. The mining concern initially went into a minor sponsorship agreement with the club in September, 2012 when the club was on the verge of dropping outside FAZ Division Three and into the Copperbelt amateur league. The management of Grizzly Mining Ltd has responded to the request of the Afrisports FC and decided to provide financial assistant in amount of over K2.2 million (US$ 400,000), Grizzly Mining Finance and Administrative manager Abdoul Ba said. And Afrisports Chief Executive officer Gabriel Kaunda said this was the rebirth of the club. It is about time. Perseverance is very important in football and results obviously are achieved over a long period of time and not overnight, Kaunda said. And coach Fred Yumba, who played with both Kalaba and Mulenga between 2002 and 2006 whose highlight was the 2003 Mosi Cup last 16 clash that they lost on post-match penalties to Red Arrows, said the onus was on Afrisports to repay the investment with results.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 10:26:42 +0000
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