Safaricom Chapa Dimba will be the first to grace the newly commissioned Dandora Stadium as it hosts the Nairobi Regional Finals this weekend. A total of eight teams are set to battle it out for the title, this being four boys’ and four girls’ teams.
They include Masericordiae Queens (Makadara), Page Vision Ladies (Mathare Valley), Dagoretti Mixed girls and Beijing Raiders (Mathare Valley) for the girl’s category. The boys will feature; Young Kings (Dandora), Lucky Summer Sports Club (Lucky Summer), Macmillan FC (Landimawe) and Dagoretti Lions (Dagoretti).
In the semis, the Nairobi season one and three champions, Beijing Raiders from Mathare Valley will be aiming to reclaim their title for the third time when they meet Dagoretti Mixed Girls. Misericordiae Queens from Makadara will also be looking to make a stab, as they take on another Mathare team, the Page Vision Ladies.
“We have been part of Safaricom Chapa Dimba since its inception, and we are pleased with what the tournament is doing to promote and showcase the talents of young Kenyans. We have emerged as regional winners twice and we hope to reclaim the title. Our dreams go beyond Nairobi because we want to be the national champions this time.” Said Mark Okwiri, Head coach Beijing Raiders.
The climax of Saturday’s showdown will witness the hosts Dandora’s Young Kings FC take on Lucky Summer Sports Club from Ruaraka in a mouthwatering late evening match. The Macmillan Fc from Landimawe will also be taking on Dagoretti Lions.
The weekend’s matches follow successful grassroots games played across the seventeen sub-counties, attracting over 310 teams.
In the build up to the weekend’s matches, players and coaches will have football clinics to train them 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 winners from each semi-final group will vie for victory in the finals slated for Sunday, where each winning team (boys and girls) will take home Ksh.250,000 and book a slot to represent the region at the national finals set for early next year. The runners-up teams will take home Ksh.150,000 each. The Best Goalkeeper, Top Scorer and Most Valuable Player (boys and girls) will each receive Ksh.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.