97 teams to battle for SportPesa Super 8 honours
What you need to know:
- The overall winning team will pocket Sh500,000 in prize money, while the runners up and the third-placed teams taking home Sh250,000 and Sh100,000 respectively.
- This is the highest ever number of teams to feature in this competition which is gearing for its ninth edition.
The upcoming edition of the SportPesa Super 8 football tournament will be graced by 97 teams drawn from within Nairobi County, the organisers said on Tuesday.
The competition's head coordinator Athanas Obala told Nation Sport that the record number of participating clubs is a testament of the faith the clubs and sponsors have in the competition, considering the "turbulent times" the sport is currently going through in the country.
The four months long competition was officially launched by Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario and Extreme Sports boss Hussein Mohammed earlier this month, and is set to officially commence in two weeks time.
(READ: Super Eight set for March return)
"I am excited by the vote of confidence by Nairobi clubs and we assure them of quality management throughout the tournament. Every participant shall be a winner," Obala said.
HIGHEST NUMBER
This is the highest ever number of teams to feature in this competition which is gearing for its ninth edition.
The competition is eligible to all male footballers from Nairobi County who are not contractually attached to any professional club. The tournament has a rich history of unearthing several football talents in the past including Jerry Santos (Gor Mahia), Jacob Keli (AFC), Phillip 'Bobo' Odhiambo (KRA) and Joseph Shikokoti (AFC Leopards) who are currently based in the top flight Kenyan league, a trend Mohammed predicts will continue into the current edition.
Dagoretti leads the eight other zones in the County with number of registered teams that will feature at the tournament at 19, followed by Kamukunji (18), Westlands and Makdara (13 each), Starehe (10), Embakassi (9), Langata (8) and Kasarani (7).
The overall winning team will pocket Sh500,000 in prize money, while the runners up and the third-placed teams taking home Sh250,000 and Sh100,000 respectively.
The zonal winners will in the meantime pocket Sh60,000 that have been realised courtesy of a Sh14 million sponsorship deal between the tournament organisers and betting firm SportPesa.
