It’s all systems go ahead of this weekend’s Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament at the Malindi High School.
The competition is part of festivities to mark Europe Day which is celebrated on May 9 annually with the first and second knockout rounds having been played in Marsabit and Homa Bay counties, respectively.
Kobala Girls Secondary School and Ringa Boys High School emerged champions of the second round of the tournament held in Homa Bay County on April 6 and 7 while in the opening round played in Marsabit County on March 26 and 27, Gadamoji High School took the boys’ trophy while Dakabaricha Mixed Secondary School were the girls’ winners.
Kilifi County will have its turn today and tomorrow with the winners in the boys’ and girls’ divisions proceeding to the finals in Nairobi later this month.
The German embassy in Nairobi is supporting the Kilifi tournament and will help facilitate the winners’ preparations for the Nairobi finals.
The German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth test drives a Kenya-Germany branded van after visiting Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung'aro ahead of the Europe Day Football Tournament sponsored by the German Embassy at Malindi High School in Kilifi County in this photo taken on 3rd May 2024.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation Media Group
On Friday, German ambassador to Kenya, Sebastian Groth, paid a courtesy call on Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro in Kilifi Town ahead of today’s Kilifi leg of the tournament open to players aged 15 to 18 years and announced that the overall winners in the Nairobi tournament with benefit from European technical assistance.
“The finals of the Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament will be on May 17 and the winning teams will be invited to Europe for specialized coaching,” Groth said at the Kilifi Governor’s office yesterday.
“Germans love the coast a lot, and they love Kilifi, Watamu and Malindi and I’m very happy to be here and we are excited to partner with the County Government of Kilifi for the third leg of the Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament,” the ambassador noted.
Mung’aro said one of his county’s main areas of focus is sports tourism and the Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament presents an excellent opportunity to further this cause.
“We have just completed the Governor’s Cup for the youngsters and this tournament coming soon after that is very good for us because one thing we are trying to promote as a county is sports tourism,” Governor Mung’aro noted.
German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth (right) with Dr Ruth Dama (left) the Kilifi County Sports CEC infront of a Kenyan- German branded Van after paying a courtesy call to Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung'aro ahead of the Europe Day Football Tournament sponsored by the German Embassy at Malindi High School in Kilifi County in this photo taken on 3rd May 2024.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation Media Group
“We are working with the German government on many other projects, including the TVETs (technical and vocational training centres),” the governor added.
Besides celebrating Europe Day, the tournament will also be a build-up towards two of Europe’s biggest sports competitions this year - the 17th Uefa European Football Championship (Euro 2024) that is set to take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14, and the Paris Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11.
The European Union Delegation to Kenya has partnered with its member states and the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports for the inaugural Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament.
At the Malindi action this weekend, eight boys’ teams and as many girls' teams will play in the preliminaries the whole day today with the knockout matches and finals to be played tomorrow.
The girls’ final is scheduled to kick off the final section of the programme at 2pm tomorrow with all matches being played at the Malindi High School.
Participating teams in the girls’ category include Mkongari Secondary School, Mwangea Girls Secondary School, Vyambari Secondary School and Ng’ombeni Girls Secondary School.
Others are St. Johns’ Girls High School, Mtepeni Secondary School, Kakoneni Girls Secondary School and Kambeni Girls Secondary School.
The boys’ teams are Vitengeni Baptist Secondary School, Malindi High School, Kizurini High School and Kajiwe High School.
The rest are Msumarini High School, Mwarakaya High School, Galana High School and Mkongani Secondary School.
