After more than a decade operating without a sponsor, the National First Division (NFD) is going into the new season with a huge smile, following the confirmation of Glad Africa Group as the league’s new sponsor for the next five years.
This was confirmed by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) Chairman Irvin Khoza during the meeting of the Board of Governors (BOG) in Kempton Park on Thursday.
Mvelaphanda was the last sponsor for this league between 2004 and 2007 and since then it’s been reliant on the PSL coffers.
Khoza has welcomed Glad Africa as the new partners of the NFD.
The prize money will jump from R500 000 to R3 million for the league champions under the new sponsor, runners-up will get R1.5 million and the third placed team takes home R1 million.
Khoza says the new partners also stand to benefit a lot from brand visibility through the NFD.
One of the challenges for the NFD in the last decade has been the lack of television coverage, only limited to few matches towards the end and also during the promotion and relegation play-offs.
Khoza says for now there will be a slight increase in the broadcast of the NFD matches.
Glad Africa, a consultancy company that’s into engineering and project management, has been attracted by the growth prospects in the footballing market in South Africa according to the company’s Executive Chairman Noel Mashaba.
Champions of the Glad Africa Championship will take home R3million. @GladAfricaGroup Executive Chairman Noel Mashaba on their new sponsorship of the NFD for the next five years. #sabcnews @SPORTATSABC pic.twitter.com/4I2okaoSRM
— Velile Mnyandu ?? (@Veli_Mbuli) August 1, 2019
– Report by Velile Mnyandu
