Newly Established BFL Gets Ball Rolling
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Monday December 7, 2020 14:53
The league has since released an advert calling for applications for the post of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to head the secretariat.
The BFL became a legal entity after delegates at Botswana Football Association (BFA) general assembly passed a motion calling for the Botswana Premier League (BPL) to be autonomous. Under the new arrangement, the league will now be able to negotiate and sign contracts or deals without the involvement of the mother body. In the past, all sponsorships deals were under the signatory of the BFA.
Football pundits have always maintained that the previous arrangement was a drawback for the growth of the elite league in the country. Their wishes were granted when the general assembly agreed to hand both the elite league and the First Division autonomy.
The structure has been admitted into the BFA as a special member, now trading as the Botswana Football League. According to the advert, the incoming CEO should have at least eight years experience. He will report directly to the chairperson of the board of governors.
Meanwhile, the mother body, BFA will also have to look into the market for the new head of secretariat following the departure of Mfolo Mfolo. Mfolo parted ways with the association this past week after few weeks of suspension. His suspension followed the national Under-17 scandal, which saw Botswana amongst other countries booted out of the COSAFA Under-17 tournament.
The tournament was also used as the qualifiers for the African Junior championship. Botswana was disqualified after some players failed the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests. The BFA immediately suspended the former CEO while investigations on the matter were ongoing.
It has since been reported that Botswana had not done its own MRI tests on the team even though it was a requirement.
Mfolo has been holding the position for three years. Following his departure, the association has since appointed the current finance manager, Thabiso Kebotsemang as the acting CEO.