Over 1,500 teams to take part in Chapa Dimba na Safaricom

The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has today announced that 1,567 teams have confirmed participation for the inaugural national Chapa Dimba na Safaricom tournament set to begin next month.

The competition, which seeks to develop grassroots football, scout youth talent and eventually draft gifted players to the National team, will feature 1,285 boys’ teams and 282 girls team from all over the country.

“Since the launch of Chapa Dimba na Safaricom towards the end of June, our partners FKF have been busy recruiting talented boys and girls in all parts of the country. The turnout was great although we wish more girls had come forward to display their talents just like the boys did,” said Sylvia Mulinge, Director – Consumer Business, Safaricom.

Nairobi region has 167 teams confirmed while Nyanza will have 235. From North Eastern, there will be 80 teams participating while Western, Rift and Eastern regions will have 197, 352 and 189 teams respectively. The Coast region will have 163 teams with 184 from Central signing up.

The competition will kick off on 9th September with the group stages, followed by the knockout phase, regional finals, with the grand finale set for March 2018.

“We are grateful to our partners Safaricom for facilitating this tournament because there is a lot of talent throughout the country that lacks a platform to practice and showcase their skills. Through the tournament we will directly reach over 20,000 young people between the ages of 16-20 as each team will comprise of 15 players and 2 officials, said Nick Mwendwa, President, FKF.

Safaricom has invested 100 million shillings towards the program which include 10 million shillings’ worth of prizes as well as for renovation of some of the community pitches through a legacy program to provide football related equipment to assist the grassroots teams.

The winning teams will walk away with 1 million shillings and an opportunity to go for an international training camp in London in April 2018.

Harambee Stars Captain and Tottenham Hotspurs midfielder, Victor Wanyama is the face of the program.

Safaricom has previously sponsored football programs including Sakata Ball and Safaricom Next Generation in partnership with My Profession Dreams Academy. Others sports that Safaricom is involved in are Athletics, Golf, Rugby and the Classic Safari Rally.