BolaBet Zambia’s grassroots football tournament, dubbed Bola Yamu Hood, kicked off on Saturday in Lusaka’s Bauleni township, with eight teams competing for a spot as hood represetative.
The tournament is worth around K2.5 million and will feature community clubs from seven townships in the Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces competing for the grand prize.
The one-thousand-seat capacity Magret Mwanakatwe stadium in Bauleni township was packed, with more spectators crowding outside for the inaugural matches, which saw BUSA FC walk away with a K15,000 cheque and bragging rights as hood champion.
Busa defeated Loyali 1-0 thanks to a Gift Musonda first half goal, and won the K15,000 prize after finishing first out of eight teams in the Bauleni competition.
Winning goal scorer, Musonda said, ” I am very happy to help my team win this tournament and be crowned champions of Bauleni. I am very confident we will go all the way to being crowned as the best community team in Zambia. We thank BolaBet for giving us this opportunity to showcase our talent. We truly grateful.”
Busa coach heaps praises on BolaBet
BUSA coach Beauty Mulenga was overjoyed and also thanked BolaBet for the good initiative.
“I feel so nice. We’re so excited. We anticipated winning the tournament and I think we are happy that our anticipation has been fulfilled,” she said. “It’s really an interesting and an amazing thing because we didn’t plan for it and it’s something that has come and we are very excited and very happy and just like the other players are happy to be the winners. And the money, of course, will help us in one or two things as individuals and also as a team.
“My message to Bolabet is let them continue organizing such kind of events. They really bring the community together and they help us to remember that BolaBet is just not for betting, but it can also bring us exciting matches like playing football and involving the entire community. If we can have more of this kind of event, I think it’ll really be nice for the community and also for the players to showcase their talents.”
Other community clubs that participated were Vuka Stars, Bana Ba Israel, Bauleni Legends, Villa Real FC, Loyali FC, Enyimba, and Ulimbe.
Busa will now await the winners of other townships in Lusaka and the Copperbelt to compete for the grand prize at the Woodlands stadium on August 10, 2024. The finale will air live on Diamond.
Next weekend, Garden Compound teams will compete to determine who will represent them at Woodlands Stadium.
