Carlsberg set the tone for the new English Premier League (EPL) season over the weekend as they unveiled their partnership as the official beer for the league starting from the 2013 season till 2016.

And to mark the event in Malawi, Carlsberg Malawi Limited organized a series of fun activities at Alexander’s Pub in Lilongwe on Saturday afternoon when the league was kicking off as a way of bringing their association with the EPL closer to Malawi and also sharing in the excitement that has come with landmark marriage.

Carlsberg Malawi Senior Brands Manager (Alcoholics) Twikale Chirwa said during the event that the launch of the Barclays Premier League activation is the first of a series of events that they have lined up as it will go on also in some leading supermarkets in the country and in other hundred leading pubs.

“This is a global initiative whereby the Carlsberg group is the official beer sponsor for the premier league in England, as you are aware that Carlsberg sponsors some activities in Asia like the J League and also Copenhagen in Denmark so we would like to cement our position as the official beer for football globally,” said Chirwa.

Chirwa said it was in the same spirit that even here in Malawi, Carlsberg is one of the leading brands that is seriously taking part in the sponsorship of football.

“Even here in Malawi we have a very strong bond with football locally, we support football at the grassroots level through our sponsorship of the Copa Coca-Cola; we sponsor the Carlsberg cup and also the Malawi national football team,” said Chirwa, adding that so far they are very impressed with how their marriage with the national has fared.

“Every decision we make as a brand we have the interests of our customers at the centre. We are in the first year of our sponsorship with the Flames and the response we have received has been overwhelming and we are happy with that,” he said.

During the event patrons took part in various completions like predicting the games between Manchester United and Swansea City and also between Arsenal and Crystal Palace and those who managed to predict correctly went away with various prizes courtesy of Carlsberg.

“We want the Malawian customer to benefit from the partnership as they will be able to win some prizes in our competitions like replica jerseys for the leading clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. We will also be giving out cups, T shirts just to excite the market during this premier league season,” said Chirwa.

Chirwa also announced their intention to launch another promotion called ‘My country, My Carlsberg’ where they will be giving out entry tickets for the game between Malawi and Mali scheduled for the 10th of September to their customers enjoying Carlsberg in the bars.

Carlsberg Malawi is sponsorship the Flames on a contract of 3 years worthy about K250 million.