Monrovia– Bettomax Liberia has signed two shirt sponsorship deals with two Liberian football clubs.
By: Christopher C Walker [email protected] 0777898224/0886723075
The betting company on Friday August 9,.20224 unveiled the champions of Liberia Football Association (LFA) first Division League and the champions of the Orange Cup Women’s category Shiata Angels as official shirt sponsors.
LFA first division champions Watanga FC signed a three-year deal, but the club’s chief executive officer (CEO), Andy Quamie, however, declined to disclose how much the deal was worth.
It is still unknown why the cost of the Watanga deal was not disclosed, but is believed to be a three-year deal. Despite the unwillingness of Quamie to announce the worth of the contract, FrontPage Africa has been informed that it’s a deal worth $60,000.00 for the period of three years.
As part of the contract, Watanga will receive $20,000.00 per season, totaling $60,000.00 over the three years period.
Upper Women’s League club, Shaita Angels also signed a one-year contract with the betting company.
The president of Shaita Angels, Benita Urey, told the media that the deal is valued over $14,000.00 and is a contract that is subject to renewal.
This also means, Bettomax will be Shaita Angels’ official shirt sponsor this season. Bettomax Liberia’s CEO, Darren Glover, said his company was delighted to support Liberian football. “We are a sports betting company in Liberia and we want to support football. We know how popular football is here,” Glover said. Mr. Glover made specific reference to the importance of women’s football, stressing that its development is as key as men’s football.
The Bettomax Liberia CEO said the sponsorship deals are part of the company’s social corporate responsibilities, highlighting how involved Bettomax has been in supporting the health sector.
“As a company, we want to demonstrate our corporate social responsibilities. Every month, we identify a charity to support and we have already had two in conjunction with Watanga; JKF and Redemption Hospitals. Next month, we will be identifying with the Healing Liberian Foundation,” Glover said at the signing ceremony.
He said they want to bring women’s football on the same level of men’s football in Liberia, something he said is difficult but is achievable. “We want to support football in Liberia because we know how popular football is and the country is not short of footballers but is also important to support those that are running the clubs in Liberia and to give them a higher profile as us,” Glover said.
He said it’s also important that the league continues to flourish, noting that the women’s league is not up to the men’s leagues but wants to support women’s football for the good of Liberian football.
According to him, they decided to support a women’s and men’s teams to make sure their brand is promoted and to bring about competition in Liberian football.
“The most important element of this deal is that we as a company want to demonstrate our commitment to our corporate social responsibility.
“Every month we are going to select a good local initiative to donate whatever you want like we have done with JFK and Redemption hospitals with Watanga FC,” he said.
He added that their sponsorship with the two clubs will focus on education and health every month and for the month of August they will identify with the Healing Liberian Foundation.
Speaking on behalf of Shaita Angels, Madam Urey thanked Bettomax for the support. “We are grateful that Bettomax has seen reasons to support football in Liberia and most especially seeing reasons to support women’s football, “she added.
She asserted that when they as officials of Shiata Angels started the club getting sponsors was difficult and even if they got one it was difficult for the sponsors to live up to their contractual agreement.
Madam Urey said they were attracted to Bettomax because of what they have done with Watanga FC, their male team and believe the deal will be beneficial to both parties.
“We really appreciate Bettomax for believing in us and as the CEO said it’s important to promote women’s football but Liberia is behind. With the sponsorship with Bettomax we hope Shaita can be the biggest female club in Liberia. “We want to use this sponsorship to win the Women’s League which I believe is possible,” she said.
For his part, Quamie said working with the betting company during their CAP Cup Competition has been great, expressing optimism that the deal will be beneficial to both parties.
He disclosed that they have an official sponsor but the deal with Bettomax will not have conflict of interest. “We will do our best to retain the Cup and not disappoint you by not winning the league,” Quamie said.
