Standard Chartered Bank rewards corporate clients
In their efforts to reward their corporate clients for doing business with them, Standard Chartered Bank Botswana will this evening see off a team of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soccer players who will tomorrow jet off for England in the United Kindom.
The BDF team made up of seven players emerged best from among the corporate football teams that Standard Chartered Bank had brought together for a 5-a-side football tournament that sought to reward the winners with a chance to play football at the iconic Anfield Stadium, the home of Liverpool Football Club which is sponsored by the bank,
Corporate Affairs and Brand & Marketing Manager at Standard Chartered Bank Kunda Neill told The Midweek Sun that a cocktail dinner was arranged for the departing army men at Falcon Crests Suites at 7 this evening. The bank uses the football tournament as a reward to corporate clients who every year are invited to form 5-a-side teams to compete for the ultimate prize of going on a four-day tour of Liverpool.
Dubbed the ‘Standard Chartered Road to Anfield Trophy,’ the football tournament is held in select countries across Africa, Europe and Asia as part of the partnership between the bank and Liverpool FC.
Standard Chartered Botswana’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Itumeleng Ramsden, adds that the international tournament is meant to provide local markets a platform from which to actively engage football enthusiasts as well as to reinforce its partnership with the English premier league club and to generate direct benefits to the businesses and stakeholders. The BDF team first emerged champions from among 32 Botswana-based corporate teams and proceed to play against counterpart champions from Zambia and Zimbabwe. The army men’s victory at the regional games counted them among the ten other regional champions from around the world who in Liverpool will among other things dine with the club’s legends. They will also receive professional training from the club’s academy coaches in preparation for the tournament’s finals. The eventual winners will receive their trophy at Anfield.
The BDF team comprises former Zebras star Masego Nchingane, their team captain Simon Rasetshwane, Omphitlhetse Tlhobogang, Jona Kwape, Charles Mositwane, Motlotlegi Kootswetse and Badiri Lection Sesiro
BDF will carry the Southern African flag while Azania Group FC of Tanzania will represent the East Africa region. Nigeria’s Super Seven FC emerged West Africa region champions and will complete the continental trio that will attempt to bring the global tournament’s cup to Africa.
It is not the first time Botswana participates in the tournament that is now in its fifth year. The BDF Team lost to a team from Singapore in the final of 2012 and Rasetshwane is confident of bringing the trophy home, saying in the 2012 final, they missed a penalty in regulation time that could have won them the deciding match. They eventually lost the match after a penalty shoot-out
