Date set for Standard Bank’s ‘Road to Anfield’

This year’s edition of the Standard Chartered Road to Anfield tournament will be held on Saturday, February 25, at the St Mary’s ground in Nairobi.

A total of 32 teams have been invited for the annual tournament whose winners will get a chance to travel to Anfield, home ground of English Premier League giants Liverpool.

As opposed to previous years where local champions got direct qualification to Anfield, the tournament has been made more competitive since the Kenyan champions will have to conquer Tanzanian and Ugandan champions in order to book a ticket to England.

Standard Chattered chief executive officer Lamin Manjang announced this during the tournament’s launch on Wednesday and added that there remains only one slot for the three East African countries involved in the competition.

“We have raised the standards up a little this year just to increase the level of competitiveness and make it even more interesting for participants,” he said.

“It is strictly an amateur tournament and we shall not allow players who have played competitive football in the last five years to compete even though they may be staff in the companies we have invited,” he said during the launch.

Capital FM became the first African team to lift the road to Anfield trophy last year, beating South Korea 3-2 at the famous “Kop” end at Anfield. 

Radio Africa Group have, however, vowed to exact revenge in this year’s five-a-side tournament after their painful loss in last year’s final, with Nation Media Group also among the top guns this year.

At Anfield, winners of the tournament will be treated to a four-day tour which will include attending an EPL macth at Anfield as well as a professional training session with Liverpool legends and coaches.