Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru’s football tournament entered its second round with 80 teams fighting to win the Ksh 1 million cash reward for the winner.
On Sunday, matches involving eight teams in each of the 20 wards across the county were played, with five more games remaining before the winners of the ward level matches are known.
Winners of the ward level matches are expected to proceed to the Sub-County level where 20 teams will battle it out to get to the County level.
Finals of the tournament dubbed “Governor Anne Waiguru- Minji Minji Football Cup” are expected to be played around 10th December.
Governor Waiguru said the tournament, under the theme “Nurturing Talent for Livelihood,” will see about 5,000 youth from about 200 football clubs compete from the ward up to the county level.
In Kanyekiine Ward; Mukinduri Fc clashed Gitwe Fc 3-0 while Ngaru Fc spiked Kianjege Fc 2-1, Gatuto Fc beat Kirimunge Fc 1-0 while Mutito Fc drew 1-1 with Njegas Fc.
In Karumandi ward; Homebase Fc beat Greenstars Fc1-0 at Karumandi primary school grounds to book another game in the third round. Mucagara Fc whitewashed K.United Fc 2-0 to win the match.
Furaha Fc walked home with their head held high after running over Young boys Fc-2-1. Kavote Fc had a field day after shaking Shakers Fc-1-0 to proceed to the third round of the matches scheduled for next weekend.
Gitwe Fc team captain Nicholas Karimi, said that all players were elated to be part of the tournament.
“This tournament is a blessing to players across the county, we now have a goal to work towards and this helps us nurture our talents. The main prize of Ksh 1 million serves as a motivation for all players,” he said.
His words were echoed by Mukinduri FC’s team captain Patrick Muthii who also thanked Governor Waiguru for sponsoring and organizing the mega tournament.
“This tournament has given us a platform as youth to showcase our talents and potentially get discovered by both national and international talent scouts and agents and become even bigger stars,” said Muthii.
Homebase FC team captain Misheck Nyaga said he is confident of his team winning the tournament.
“This tournament has renewed our spirits as players and if you look around, these games have brought out a lot of youth who may have otherwise been engaging in unsavory activities such as drug use. The huge prize money has also ensured that players have something to focus all their energy on thus keeping us on our toes,” Nyaga said.
CECM Sports Dennis Musimi said the round robin tournament has attracted a huge number of spectator with scouters also moving round to identify talents.
“Apart from the clubs winning money, we also want to expose talents of our youths so that they can be picked to join bigger clubs and become professional players,” he added.
Winning team will get a reward of Ksh.1 million while the second will receive Ksh.750,000. The third will walk home with Ksh.500,000 as the fourth bags Ksh.350,000. The fifth will get Ksh. 200,000 with top teams in ward level also receiving cash rewards.
The two months tournament is the largest football competition to have ever taken place in the county and is aimed at empowering youths to generate income from their talents.
