Lioli to hold players’ awards on September 2

A time of transition at Lioli...

Econet Premier League giants Lioli will host an awards gala to honour their players on September 2 at Ka Pitseng Guest House in Teyateyaneng.

Tse Nala came second in the 2017/18 Econet Premiership season during a disappointing campaign in which they finished without a trophy for the first time since 2012.

Lioli promptly fired Morena Ramorebodi as coach at the end of the season and replaced him with Lehlohonolo Thotanyana who led the Teyateyaneng side to the league title in 2013.

Tse Nala also roped in Mosholi Mokhothu to be Thotanyana’s assistant coach. Mokhothu, of course, is the most successful coach in the club’s history having guided Lioli to championship wins in 2009, 2015 and 2016 and is a popular figure amongst the club’s fans.

Lioli started life under their new technical team on a positive note two weekends ago when they won the Alliance Winter Challenge for the first time since the pre-season tournament was introduced in 2015.

That success has raised spirits around Teyateyaneng and the club will have another occasion to celebrate at next month’s awards which will take place two weeks before the 2018/19 season gets underway.

“We organised the awards to appreciate the work done by our players last season and to also motivate them do more and keep their sprits high ahead of the upcoming season,” said Motlatsi Mofokeng, Lioli’s communications and marketing manager.

Lioli’s club awards will have six categories with the main prize being the Player of the Season accolade.

There will also be prizes for the Players’ Player of the Season, Supporters’ Player of the Season, Goalkeeper of the season, Most Improved Player, Most Disciplined Player and the club’s top goalscorer.

The players’ awards are a sequel to a supporters’ night that was held last month also at Ka Pitseng Guest House.

Those supporters’ awards honoured Lioli’s most disciplined and colourful supporter and also had a prize for the supporters’ supporter of the year.

“We want to promote unity amongst our supporters,” Mofokeng said.

“We believe the team’s success on the field is not enough to make supporters happy and be part of the Lioli family,” he added.

“We hope the awards spread a message to other supporters about the importance of being a loyal and disciplined supporter.”