South African football to embrace technology

THE biggest soccer league in Africa, South Africa’s Premier Soccer League will from the next round of the season shift to electronic advertising at its stadiums.

This is ahead of the FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA World Cup that the country will host in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

A trial of the initiative was held this week in Johannesburg during a game that featured Vodacom-sponsored Orlando Pirates and Bloemfontein Celtic.

“It was a major success,” said PSL media and communications manager Altaaf Kazi.

“Electronic advertising will be prominent in the second half of the season, which kicks off in January.”

Kazi added, “Plans are also on course to introduce a mobisite that would enable football followers to get in-depth news from the PSL from their mobile phones.”

The PSL is the biggest football league in the continent in terms of sponsorships and revenue.

Mobile operators, Vodacom and MTN sponsor a number of teams and cup competitions while the country’s leading landline services provider Telkom sponsor a one-day and knockout competition.

The PSL recently relaunched a new website which Kazi said was a hit with football followers.

“Since the launch of the new website, the number of visitors of the site have increased by 30 percent,” he said