City of Lusaka Football club has been recently banned by the Football Association of Zambia from using it’s Vofafone Stadium on grounds that Vodafone is a competitor to Super League main sponsor MTN in the provision of Internet services.
City Communications Manager Alex Njovu stated in a press release that the Football Association’s stance does not hold water citing how the UEFA Champions League which is sponsored by Heineken has never banned Liverpool from wearing their shirts that were sponsored by Carlsberg a fellow beer brewing company. He further stated that again Liverpool was sponsored by Standard Chartered while they played in the Barclays Premier League and which was sponsored by the Barclays Bank.
Mr Njovu said that they feel ill treated and let down by the Football Association’s stance particularly after the were made aware of the move before City of Lusaka penned down a contract with Vodafone. He added that the football association should be encouraging teams to look for sponsorship as the money from MTN alone is not enough to fulfill a single league fixture.
City of Lusaka face Green Buffaloes at Nkoloma Stadium on Sunday in a week 27 fixture which they intended to have played at their Vodafone Stadium in Woodlands which is closer to a lot of City of Lusaka fans.
This doesnt make sense ba FAZ naimwe..
Wow Kalusha can explain this. MTN & Vodafone.
But zanaco wears Barclay’s in Barclay’s cup.
It will end at ACC.
Ba FAZ is ZANACO FC allowed to participate in the Barclays Cup?
I ask this because Barclays is a bank which sponsors the Barclays cup and Zanaco fc is sponsored by ZANACO Bank and they wear ZANACO bladed Jersey, how is this different from City of Lusaka having VODAFON bland while participating in the MTN Sponsored League.
Ba FAZ please enlighten me on this.
I think the problem is with the contract that FAZ entered into with MTN. Some didn’t study the small print in the contract.
This is very silly. FAZ has done nothing to improve infrastructure in the country and when someone comes in help out this is the response they get. When Konkola sponsored the league, we never heard of Mopani sponsored companies being barred from using their stadia because they are competitors to KCM. We need to exhibit some common sense and not allow this kind of childishness to chase away sponsors. If they want they can cover up the Vodofone branding when they play out there but to out rightly ban City from using this stadium is Stupid at best.
WOW!!!!!! And this is how FAZ is going to end up losing sponsors. What kind of crap is this? I’m speechless. Does FAZ not have lawyers or common sense?
Where is the bone of contention in. this issue?. MTN. sponsors the league n Vodafone renovates the stadium n take over responsibility of City Yamoto.
@Mingalito Please Kalusha is no longer at FAZ. Why bring him in this issue.
To the topic at hand. Come on FAZ this is a retrogressive move in Zambian Soccer. We need a lot of sponsors in our league which is short of sponsors. THIS DOES NOT HLEP!!
What a stupid….stupid decision by FAZ
Agree with Sibs,Logic,positive thinking , etc. City of Lusaka and Lusaka can only benefit from private sponsored infrastructure.
In as much as it maybe a contract flow, this just doesnt make sense. FAZ better rethink this decision.