HARARE - BancABC have extended their sponsorship of Zimbabwean football giants Dynamos by another three years, with the bank taking the opportunity to reveal intricacies of the deal.
The bank’s head of marketing and spokesperson, Muriel Dowa, said as the club’s official sponsor, the BancABC logo will be displayed on team apparel in all competitions they play in.
Details of the new deal were not clear at the time of going to press last night, but BancABC will reportedly release in the region of $700 000 per season.
Dynamos came under criticism from fans last week for donning kits bearing the BancABC logo in their previous Champions League tie against Botswana champions Mochudi Centre Chiefs despite the bank revealing that they would not bankroll the club in this year’s competition.
However, Dowa said the bank never had a separate sponsorship package for the Champions League, insisting their involvement in the tournament in the past was out of budget and more of a rescue act.
“We are the official sponsor of the club, even when we are not taking care of the costs in the Champions League, the guys still get paid salaries by BancABC,” Dowa told the Daily News yesterday.
“We are their official sponsor, not tournament sponsor. It doesn’t matter which tournament they play in. In Zimbabwe we have to understand things at that level. AON sponsors Manchester United, whether they play in the Barclays Premiership or in the Champions League. Their logo is worn in all tournaments.
“Yes, we have had to go out of our way to release extra funds for Dynamos in the Champions League because they are our club. The bank came through when it could. But we had a budget, and when you have a budget it is difficult to come out of it.
“We have chipped in before to assist with extra funds, but sponsorship Dynamos separately in the Champions League was never part of the deal. It is only that this time around we made it clear that we wouldn’t have extra funds to do that. We even communicated that before they won the league title.”
Dowa said other partners in Zimbabwean football were aware of the nature of BancABC’s arrangement with Dynamos, and respected that.
“You will notice that even when we (Dynamos) play in the Mbada Diamonds we do have our logo there. We are the club sponsor, not the tournament sponsor.
“We will respect the sponsors of the tournament, but we are saying as the official sponsor of the team, this is our space. We observe their rights, the same way we want our rights to be observed.
“To that effect, you will also notice that when we sponsored the BancABC Sup8r last season, Motor Action had their ‘Buy Zimbabwe’ logo on the front part of the jersey, because they were their sponsor. FC Platinum as well were allowed to put their club sponsor on that space. We did not want to touch that.”
Meanwhile, BancABC last week launched the “Football Friday Dressdown”, which will see members of staff wearing replica shirts of Dynamos and Highlanders, the two clubs bankrolled by the financial institution.
“We have decided that we really want to be involved with football in a big way this year,” said Dowa.
“So every week we will alternate between the clubs we sponsors when there is a big game on the weekend. Last week you would have noticed that it was half Dynamos, half Highlanders. It is just a way of showing support.
“Instead of buying shirts for staff, we decided to buy replicas for all members of staff to help the clubs get more revenue from the sell of replicas.”
Dowa said under the deal, BancABC will not prevent other potential sponsorship to partner Dynamos.