Bigger purse for Super 8 League
SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri, Kenyan Premier League chairman Ambrose Rachier, Nairobi County Deputy Governor Jonathan Mueke and Extreme Super Eight CEO Mohamed Hussein during the launch of Extreme Super Eight League in Nairobi on January 12, 2016. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |
What you need to know:
- Timely boost for young talent as tourney organisers bigger competition
- The tournament, now in its ninth edition, was first held in 2005 and has produced players like former Gor Mahia and Mathare United attacking midfielder Innocent Mutiso, Nakumatt goalkeeper Wycliffe Kasaya and veteran midfielder Jerry Santos.
Super Eight Football League, formerly known as Super Eight Tournament, on Tuesday received a major financial boost following a Sh35 million sponsorship from sports betting company SportPesa and Extreme Sports Limited.
The money, which is an improvement from Sh14m in sponsorship last year, will go towards running of the tournament and will also cater for prize money.
Speaking in Nairobi during the unveiling of the sponsorship, SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri said the company aims at continuing to support sports development in the country.
“As the leading sports betting platform in Kenya, we are pleased to be the title sponsors of Super Eight League this season. We are happy to offer services that enrich the lives of sports enthusiasts and which promote local football talent,” he said.
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Extreme Sports CEO and the tournament’s founder, Hussein Mohammed, said the competition aims at giving budding footballers a chance to fulfil their dreams.
“We are putting together a professionally run competition and we are inviting anybody interested in partnering us to join,” Hussein said.
For the first time, the competition will be held in three tiers – Super Eight League, Super Eight Division One and Super Eight Soccer Tournament.
Sixteen teams drawn from Nairobi’s 17 constituencies will battle it out in the first and second tier while the third tier, to be held on knock-out basis, will have unlimited number of teams. Four top teams from the third tier - Super Eight Soccer Tournament - will earn promotion to Division One.
Matches in the first and second tiers will be on home and away basis. Winners of the Super Eight League will earn Sh1m, runners-up Sh500,000 and third-place finishers Sh250,000. Competing teams will get Sh10,000 monthly.
Winners of the Super Eight Division One will pocket Sh500,000, runners-up Sh250,000 and third-place finishers Sh100,000. Participating teams will receive Sh5,000 a month.
The tournament, now in its ninth edition, was first held in 2005 and has produced players like former Gor Mahia and Mathare United attacking midfielder Innocent Mutiso, Nakumatt goalkeeper Wycliffe Kasaya and veteran midfielder Jerry Santos.
