Fresh from their La Liga sojourn, Botswana Premier League (BPL) has expressed optimism that it will no longer be business as usual as they are ready to implement some of the things they have learnt in Spain.
The BPL Chairperson Jagdish Shah and his team visited Spain and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the President of LaLiga Javier Tebas Medrano to establish a beneficial relationship in football development between the two leagues.
Giving feedback from their trip, Shah observed that for the league and clubs to be run properly there is need to change mind set and start doing things differently. He said the issue of compliance among the BPL clubs is important and all teams must do things according to set standards if they are to reach where they want to go.
BPL Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Thabo Ntshinogang explained that the meeting discussed issues of commercialization of the game, women football, sports projects, economic control, innovation and marketing.
The BPL CEO said they expect to share what they have learnt with other colleagues so that together they run the league towards the desired standards. Ntshinogang said according to the agreement premier league clubs are to benefit from their counterparts in Spain.
“Premier league teams stand to benefit during off season by organising friendly matches with La Liga teams. Our teams can go to Spain or La Liga teams can visit Botswana and play friendly matches with two or three BPL teams,” Ntshinogang explained.
He explained that teams are not only going to benefit on the field of play, but will also benefit administratively. “Club personnel, technical staff and administrators will be resourced on how to run a team professionally,” Ntshinogang said.
It is said that La Liga has also pledged to support the match officials (referees) to keep them up to date with modern game regulations and administration of laws of the game.
BPL is undergoing an ambitious process of looking at ways in which they can make the league professional and appealing to the public and sponsors.
