Brava: City Council hands out subsidies to clubs participating in the 2022/23 sports season

The Brava council today delivered the subsidy allocated annually to the four football teams in Brava participating in the 2022/23 sports season, augurring that new sports will emerge and the recovery of other clubs.

The Councilor for Sports at the Brava City Council, Mário Soares, explained that this is already a commitment made by the municipality to support all sports initiatives on the island, and 11-a-side football is the “best organized” structure in terms of sport on the island.

In this sense, he stressed that the council awarded this subsidy of 100,000 escudos to each of the four teams that are participating in the 22/23 sports season, hoping that the other federated teams may also return next season, but also that other sports will emerge and the chamber will always mobilize partners to support.

Still, he advanced that the municipality will deliver the prize for the winner of the regional championship, in this case to the Morabeza club, recognizing that the value does not solve the problem of the clubs, but recalled that the managers of the clubs also have the function of raising partners and consequently the search for more financiers and funding.

Likewise, it showed that the council has intensified contacts through associations, the Institute of Sports and Youth (IDJ), has funded travel and training given in Brava, in order to formalize other sports.

In this context, he highlighted that through the IDJ the municipality obtained a table that was placed at Escola Secundária Eugénio Tavares (ESET) and that through the Cape Verdean Basketball Federation it also obtained a mini-basketball table that is affecting the Escola Básica de Nossa Senhora do Monte (EBNSM), reinforcing that the municipality is mobilizing resources to bring another pair of tables from Portugal to be made available to clubs.

With regard to basketball, he informed that large steps are already being taken towards the creation of the association, waiting only for the members of the bodies to gather for a meeting to socialize the statute in order to move forward with the creation and officialization of the sport on the island.

In the other modalities, he underlined that some training has been taking place, but there is still a lack of commitment from people to grasp and take the modalities forward.

Another area they intend to invest in is cycling, informing that there is contact with the Cabo Verdean Cycling Federation that intends to schedule a trip to Brava to see the conditions that must be created in order to also have this modality on the island.

On the part of the clubs, Adilson Bango, a member of Benfica's technical team, thanked for this support, emphasizing that the support is welcome and important because for the team it is the only partner it has and this amount will be channeled to cover some expenses of the time.

Although it is not enough to pay off the entire debt, he stressed that it relieves a little and “without this support it would be difficult to sustain a sporting season that is costly”.

Viriato Almeida, member of the Morabeza club's technical team, also thanked this gesture, recognizing that the council made an effort within its possibilities and even if the amount is not enough to cover all expenses, it is an "added value" to honor commitments .

Likewise, he advanced that the management of each club also has the responsibility to work and get more resources to cover the remaining expenses.