Today, over 80 teams are taking part in the Chapa Dimba tournament which is being held in the coastal region. The matches are being played at different venues in Malindi, Tana River forming part of the North Coast region. Next weekend over 50 other teams from South Coast region will kick off their games.
All the teams both boys and girls will play their group stage matches with group winners proceeding to the next stage setting pace for regional knockout phase. After the regional knockouts, the winning teams will move on to the regional finals and finally the grand finale set for July 2019 in Meru.
So far, Bishop Njenga Girls and Lugari Blue Saints from Western region have cut the ticket to the national finals. Manyatta Boys and Ndhiwa Queens will also represent Nyanza region in the national finals.
The competition will move to the Kitui Showground next weekend for the Eastern regional finals and thereafter proceed to Rift Valley, Coast, North Eastern, Central and Nairobi before it culminates into the National finals in Meru.
Michael Karanja, Chapa Dimba Coast Regional Coordinator had this to say, “We are ready to kick off our preliminary matches this weekend in the North Coast region. We have also seen teams training hard for the tournament and we expect interesting football this season.”
The tournament sponsored by Safaricom has an aim of scouting for youth talent, developing grassroots football, and ultimately propelling gifted players to the national team. So far, 1,600 teams from all over the country registered.