As part of its on-going support for the development of football in Liberia and across Africa, Orange has announced its involvement in the U-15 tournament in Liberia. The company says that the champions of this year’s tournament will benefit from an all-expense-paid trip to Cameroon to watch the AFCON games live.
Julien Paquier, Director for Communications and Marketing, Orange Liberia, said that support for the U-15 tournament is a part of Orange Liberia’s long-standing initiative of developing and promoting football in Liberia. He highlighted that Orange had been the title sponsor of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), and in Liberia the company sponsors the Liberia Football Association (LFA), the national team, the national league and the National County Meet, as well as several other sporting activities.
Paquier explained that this year the company will provide the champions of the Liberia U-15 tournament an all-expense-paid trip to watch the finals of the AFCON games in Cameroon. “We have been sponsors of AFCON for six years, and this year we decided to do something special that will really link AFCON with Liberian teens and the environment,” said Paquier. He explained that, in addition to the trip for the U-15 winners, the company will also give away gifts to customers who recycled during the U-15 games, as well as those who posted a selfie on any Orange social media pages, with the hashtag #orangesponsorsyou, #orangesponsortalent #orangesponsorchange.
Sarah Buchanan, Director for the Orange Foundation and the Orange Digital Center, said that the recycling program was an important part of Orange Liberia’s effort of raising awareness about the environment and giving its customers an opportunity to contribute to keep their communities clean. She stated that “by recycling these plastics not only are we taking the dirt off the streets, but we are working with Duraplast to turn all of these old, discarded plastic bags into something positive that can be beautiful and useful”. She explained that customers could participate and win prizes if they attended a game and took recyclable materials to one of the recycle bins placed at stadiums where the U-15 games were being played. “Each time you bring plastic bags to the bins to be recycled, you stand a chance of winning a prize. An Orange representative will be there to give you a prize for your effort to keep the stadium and environment clean,” she observed.
For his part, Mustapha Raji, President of the Liberia Football Association (LFA), thanked Orange for its continued support to football in Liberia, and said that the effort by Orange of investing a portion of its profits into supporting Liberian football was exemplary. He encouraged sports fans and well-meaning Liberian at home and abroad to continue to support Orange Liberia’s effort by continuing to utilize Orange’s products and services. He explained that the U-15 tournament was bringing together teams from seven counties, and that matches would be held every Friday through the month of November. Admission for all the U-15 matches is free.