Lucky football lovers will on the 1st of November have a rare close up opportunity to admire and view the World Cup trophy at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC). The highly revered trophy will be displayed for the media and about 3000 winners of the ongoing Coca Cola promotions. The trophy, which is the highest football keepsake in the world of football, made of solid 18-carat gold, with 36cm height and, weighing 6kg, with two layers of semi-precious malachite will tour 86 countries in the world, including 52 African countries.
It has so far toured to Egypt on the 22nd of October and Ghana and will now be in Botswana for local football fanatics to enjoy a rare once in a while opportunity. The trophy will then wrap up its African tour by landing in South Africa, Cape Town on the 2nd December 2009. The highly valued trophy will then resume its world tour from Seoul, South Korea, on 17 January 2010, before returning back in May 2010 to South Africa for the World Cup tournament. The last time the Cup came to Africa was in 1996 during which it went to Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa. The Kgalagadi Breweries Limited Marketing Manager, Mmabatho Dibe, announced on yesterday (Wednesday) that they through Coca Cola sponsorship have decided to offer Batswana a chance to be part of the spontaneous celebrations for the cup “because not everybody will be able to go to South Africa in 2010.” She said part of their bringing the cup home is to inspire local footballers to aspire to compete on international level and one day bring it home. She also said Batswana should rest assured that the cup will be the original one as FIFA has destroyed all other replicas except the one current being held by the world cup champions, Italy. Appreciating Coca Cola’s efforts, The Botswana Football Association (BFA) acting chief executive officer (CEO), Losika Keatlholetswe said BFA appreciates Coca Cola for not only helping local football at grassroots level and the national level but also at the international level as evidenced by their bold initiative to unite Botswana with the rest of the world through bringing the cup home. He also expressed his hopes that the cup will certainly revive the spirit of football locally, saying “one day we will bring it to Botswana through the Zebras.
”Mrs. Dibe stated that for one to qualify to be part of the viewers of the cup, they have come up with a number of promotions where people can win tickets to the grand viewing at GICC. The Cup will touch down in Botswana on the1st of November and will only be available for 48 hours. Only the President and World Cup Winners can touch the coveted piece which only a handful knows where it is kept for security purposes.
