Safaricom launches 'chapa dimba' football tourney

From left: Football Kenya Federation chief Nick Mwendwa, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore and Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama hold hands during the launch of "Chapa Dimba na Safaricom" challenge at Railway grounds on June 29, 2017. Wanyama will be the ambassador. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU |

What you need to know:

  • Safaricom on Thursday unveiled a Sh100 million grassroots football tournament, whilst appointing Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama as the competition's brand ambassador.
  • This nine-month-long competition dubbed "Chapa Dimba" will be contested across the country by aspiring male and female talents aged between 16 and 20 years.
  • The winning male and female clubs will each be awarded Sh1 million as prize money.

Safaricom on Thursday unveiled a Sh100 million grassroots football tournament, whilst appointing Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama as the competition's brand ambassador.

This nine-month-long competition dubbed "Chapa Dimba" will be contested across the country by aspiring male and female talents aged between 16 and 20 years.

The winning male and female clubs will each be awarded Sh1 million as prize money.

And that's not all.

Players attached to these two teams will also be awarded a lifetime opportunity of flying to England to visit Wanyama who is currently attached to top London club Tottenham Hotspur, and training alongside him for a week.

"I couldn't resist this opportunity of working alongside such an established institution to help this country unearth young talents from Wajir and some other places we haven't even heard of," Wanyama, 26, who is valued at Sh3 billion in the current European transfer market, explained.

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore meanwhile stressed the need for the competition's administrators and match officials to manage it in a transparent manner.

Particularly, Collymore insisted the tournament be managed in a better way compared to the Safaricom sponsored Sakata Ball football tournament, which collapsed in 2012, after a fall out with the then FKF office led by Sam Nyamweya.

Said Collymore: " Integrity is key here. Sports represents the best of humanity. There are some people who messed up the other tournament (Sakata Ball) and when we questioned that, they told us to keep our money. Ofcourse we kept our money and handed it to the successful Olympians that year."

Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa expressed hope the competition will unearth the next country's biggest talents, comparable to Wanyama and his elder brother McDonald Mariga who also was present.

"Already there is a chance for the outstanding ladies in this competition to be part of our national women U-20 team that will play Botswana in the qualification matches for the World Cup in three weeks time," the FKF boss said.

He also explained that the tournament will be played across eight regions, with the winners from each team qualifying to face each other in a regional contest to determine the champion.

The registration process for the estimated 1200 clubs expected to compete will commence in all FKF offices countrywide starting next week.