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NewsDay

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Boost for Mighty Bulls

Sport
Diamond mining company, Mbada Diamonds, has pledged financial support for Motor Action in a well-timed intervention that is set to boost morale in the Mighty Bulls camp ahead of their Caf Confederations Cup football campaign which kicks off next month. The Eric Rosen-owned club will forget about a begging bowl reminiscent of what they went […]

Diamond mining company, Mbada Diamonds, has pledged financial support for Motor Action in a well-timed intervention that is set to boost morale in the Mighty Bulls camp ahead of their Caf Confederations Cup football campaign which kicks off next month.

The Eric Rosen-owned club will forget about a begging bowl reminiscent of what they went through last year when the team struggled to raise funds for their Champions League trip to Madagascar.

The 2010 league champions only made the trip to Antananarivo after a local travel agent lent them $34 000 which the club reimbursed upon return.

There were strong fears that the Mighty Bulls could plunge into the same situation.

However, those problems will be a thing of the past after Mbada Diamonds, who made headlines last year after pouring a whopping $1 million sponsorship package into the Premier Soccer League, extended their goodwill to Motor Action.

The clubs chief of protocol Simeon Jamanda yesterday confirmed the deal. He said his club had already received kits from Mbada Diamonds which they were going to use in the Confederations Cup.

Jamanda said: Unlike in the past where we would go and knock on everyones door begging for money that will not happen this year.

In terms of travelling expenses, accommodation, kits and other incidental expenses, we are home and dry because the diamonds have been harnessed for us. Mbada Diamonds have said they will meet all our expenses that we will incur when participating in the Confederations Cup. They said they would pay directly to the service providers.

He added: We thank Mbada Diamonds for setting the pace for other corporates to follow. Given what Mbada has done for us to fulfil our fixtures, it is now up to us to pay them back with positive results.

We have set our target for the competition. We think we are capable of winning it. That way it will open doors for other teams and more sponsorship will come.

We have also written to Caf through Zifa so that they can give us the actual dates and the venue for the away matches so that we can make all the travelling arrangements in time, said Jamanda.

Mbada Diamonds had initially pledged to sponsor the team that was going to win their million dollar cup and compete in the Confederations Cup.

They had set aside a $150 000 subsidy to cover the costs for participating in the Confederations Cup and another $25 000 worth of kit sponsorship.

However, the cup was won by Dynamos who opted to play in the prestigious Caf Champions League, forcing the sponsor to withdraw their pledge.

The Mighty Bulls will start their campaign away to Black Leopards of South Africa on the weekend of February 17-19 before hosting Lidoda Duvha at Rufaro two weeks later. Motor Action said they had lined up a number of friendly matches to prepare for the Confederations Cup.

They play city rivals Caps United on Sunday at Rufaro Stadium before engaging FC Platinum at Sakubva next week in the Bob 88 Super Cup semi-final. The other semi-final match will pit defending champions Dynamos and Hwange at Barbourfields Stadium.