Beach soccer can only 'grow better'

By Swalley Kenyi

Nkumba Select BSC owner/coach Isa Asiimwe is optimistic that adequate funding for teams in the Pepsi Beach Soccer league will revitalise rivalry in the competition.

Competitiveness in the league had gone down with International University of East Africa (UIEA) even pulling out citing financial difficulties.

Despite agreeing on a sh300m two-year sponsorship with Uganda Beach Soccer Association (UBSA) last year, Pepsi had not released the funds to be extended to the clubs.

But new Pepsi brand manager Bernadette Kizza and Uganda Beach Soccer Association (UBSA) chairman Deo Mutabazi said at a joint press conference at Athina Club yesterday in Kololo, Kampala that sh150m has already been released for first year of the contract. The money caters for entertainment, branding, cash prizes at the end of the season and facilitation for the teams.

“The money is already with us and the clubs will get their share of the sponsorship anytime they come to sign for it,” Mutabazi said. Although Asiimwe said the sh42,000 that each club is entitled to every time they travel to play at Entebbe is peanuts, he is sure it will be better than nothing.