The Seychelles Football Federation has officially presented the new sponsors of the national knockout competition now called the Pillay R Cup.

In a ceremony at Palm Residency at the ex-Le Surmer restaurant late Friday afternoon, the new official sponsors of the tournament, Pillay R Group presented a cheque for R250,000 to the SFF. The money will go towards the running of the tournament which pits all senior teams across all divisions together with the winners granted entry into the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Confederations Cup.

The ceremony was attended by SFF chairman Elvis Chetty, the owner of the Pillay R Group Ramu Pillay and members of the SFF executive committee.

Mr Chetty said: “Everyone loves football here and in order to help the sport get better and enjoyable, we need support and contributions, thus this sponsorship from the Pillay R Group is very much appreciated.”

He added that he wants supporters to enjoy the tournament, which is Seychelles’ equivalent to football’s oldest cup competition and one which we all follow, the English FA Cup.

Mr Pillay said he hopes the Pillay R Cup can be enjoyed by all fans and also the players on the pitch, but he has also revealed that as of yet, the sponsorship is only for this year and he has not decided yet if he will renew this partnership next year.

The Pillay R Cup replaces the Intelvision Cup which had itself replaced the Land Marine Cup before that.