Marina FC from Mandera, Lyon 04 FC from Garissa and Wajir All Stars from Wajir, are set to battle it out at the Safaricom Chapa Dimba North Eastern regional finals to be held at Garissa University this weekend.
On Saturday, the 24th of February, the Wajir County champions, Wajir All Stars, under the guidance of Coach Adan Mohamed, will be vying for the regional title as they face off against Marina FC from Mandera County in the knockout semi-finals. The winner will play against the host, Lyon 04 FC from Garissa, who qualified at the inter-county playoffs.
“It hasn’t been easy to reach this far, as the tournament has been really competitive from the grassroots level. It has taken us a lot of dedication and commitment to reach the finals, and we believe we have all it takes to claim the regional title and get an opportunity to represent Garissa and North Eastern at large in the national finals. I want to promise our fans that we are going to make them happy and request them to come out in large numbers and support us,” said Mohamed Abdikadir, Assistant Coach Lyon 04 FC.
The regional champions will take home KES. 250,000 and book a slot to represent the region at the national finals set for April. The runners-up team will take home KES. 150,000 with the Best Goalkeeper, Top Scorer and Most Valuable (boys and girls) each receiving KES. 30,000.
In addition to the prize money each player, both winners and runners-up will also get Neon Smartphones, the first locally assembled 4G smartphone in Kenya.
The Saturday match will be preceded by players and coach clinics at same facility I the morning and will involve training on various aspects of the football tournament including the use of GPS Sports Vests, which Safaricom has introduced to aid in the scouting of players by collecting data and building on the players profiles during the matches using metrics that are globally recognized and accepted.
The weekend’s matches follow successful grassroots games that proceeded to sub-county and county knockout games played across the three counties of the North Easter Region, namely Wajir, Garissa and Mandera. The tournament attracted a total of 286 teams who participated from the ward level.
Safaricom Chapa Dimba aims to provide a structured platform for scouts and coaches to tap into new talent and build feeder systems for the Kenyan football leagues across the country while also training a total of 250 coaches. The tournament targets footballers aged between 16 and 20 years old.