Luanda — Angola's top division football championship, previously known as Girabola, has been renamed Liga Unitel-Girabola, according to a Monday announcement by the company UNITEL and the National Association of Angolan Football Clubs (ANCAF).
Speaking in a joint press conference, the CEO of the mobile phone company UNITEL, Amílcar Safeca, said the objective of the agreement signed between the parties is to enhance the competition, making it a true business opportunity.
Safeca, who did not disclose the amounts involved in the three-year contract, considered it more important to highlight the actions planned in the instrument signed between the representatives of the parties.
He said the UNITEL has extensive experience in the digital field, which is one of the ways to help boost the competition, particularly in ticket sales, developing marketing campaigns, and creating conditions for the implementation of 'fan zones' and broadcasting the games.
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He also said that, in an initial stage, the "Unitel League - Girabola" will be broadcast to approximately 20 million customers through a streaming platform, a package-based technology widely used for distributing multimedia content via the internet.
ANCAF's charperson, João Lusevikueno, highlighted the existence of confidentiality clauses and the adoption of transparency principles, adding that the national league games could be broadcast in several provinces of the country, in addition to Luanda, later this year.
He said that the television broadcaster ZAP, the holder of the television rights, also under a three-year contract, is currently enhancing its technical resources, including reporting vehicles and satellite link equipment and that the matches will also be available on the ZOOM platform, allowing other television stations, clubs and coaches to benefit from the services provided.
He added that, after Mozambique and Cape Verde, the goal is to further internationalize the competition, by expanding the signal to all countries where there is a significant Angolan community, such as Portugal, Brazil and France.
Girabola History:
The Girabola started in 1979, with 1º de Agosto as the first national champion. The military club currently has 13 titles, although the competition is historically dominated by Petro de Luanda, with 19 trophies won.
Other teams that have already managed to win the national title are Recreativo do Libolo (4), Atlético Sport Aviação - ASA (3), 1º de Maio de Benguela (2), Interclube (2), Sagrada Esperança (2) and Kabuscorp do Palanca (1).
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The record for goals in a single season is held by Carlos Alves, of 1º de Agosto, with 29 goals scored. He is followed by Amaral Aleixo of Sagrada Esperança in 1991 (23 goals), Flávio Amado, for Petro de Luanda in 2001 (23), and Gelson Dala, for 1º de Agosto, in 2016 (23).
1º de Maio de Benguela, Sagrada Esperança and Recreativo do Libolo are the only clubs outside Luanda to win the national title. Due to the civil war, the championship was reduced to twelve teams in the 1993 and 1994 seasons, which prevented the participation of clubs from the Huambo province.
Since 2010, the Girabola has been contested by 16 competitors, following the current scoring system, with three points awarded for a win. BSV/MC/AMP
