Young Kings from Dandora and Dagoretti Mixed Girls’ have been crowned the new champions of the Safaricom Chapa Dimba Nairobi region 4th edition following the finals played on Sunday at the Dandora Stadium, in Nairobi.
Roared on by a mammoth crowd who overflowed in the 5,000-seater, newly-commissioned stadium in the heart of Dandora, the hosts Young Kings came from 1-nil down to humble Dagoretti Lions 6-1 and claimed the Nairobi regional crown.
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Lions started strongly and their efforts were rewarded through a quick goal from Dhuor Kang in the 7th minute. However, a defensive error in the 16th minute led to a penalty for the hosts which was converted by Edwin Toto. Lions had a chance to reclaim their lead but Shano Boku missed a penalty. The miss proved costly as immediately after Joseph Wekesa put Young Kings ahead with a splendid freekick in the 26th minute. Washington Muga then capitalized on Lions’ defensive lapses, scoring two more goals to make it 4-1 at the break. Muga added two goals in the second half to seal the 6-1 victory for the Dandora Young Kings.
“Firstly, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Safaricom for organizing such a great tournament and providing young players in our country with a platform to showcase their football talents. I hope other corporate entities can emulate this. As a team, we are thrilled to emerge the new champions of Nairobi region. It was undoubtedly a tense and challenging game as our opponents were equally good, but I am pleased that we emerged winners. Following today’s win, we will immediately embark on regular training in preparation for the national finals, which are just a month away,” said Kaswara Okwangla, head coach Dandora Young Kings.
In the girls’ final, Dagoretti Mixed Girls secured a dominant 6-0 victory over Misericordiae Queens from Makadara. Cisse Nambuye opened the scoring as early as the first minute of the game. Faida Awuor, Patience Kasichana, Ruth Safari each scored a goal with Volentar Akinyi scoring twice to seal their ticket to the national finals.
Dandora Young Kings and Dagoretti Mixed Girls’ each pocketed KES. 250,000, and tickets to represent the Nairobi region in the Safaricom Chapa Dimba National finals slated for next month in Kisumu County. The runners-up: Young Kings and Misericordiae Queens each took home KES. 150,000.
The Most Valuable Player (MVP), Best Goalkeeper, and Top Scorer (boys and girls) each received KES. 30,000.
In addition to the grand prize, each player from the winning team took home a Neon Ultra phone, as the runners-up players each took home a Neon Smarter Phone.
The 4th edition of the Safaricom Chapa Dimba Nairobi region featured a total of 311 teams from all the seventeen sub-counties that played from the ward level.
Other teams that have already qualified for the national finals include: Ebwali FC and Brenda Girls from Western, Obunga FC and Plateau Queens, also known as Nyakach Girls from Nyanza region PASC Langa and Wiyeta Girls from Rift Valley, Chuka Uni Scorpions and Syomunyu Sec from Eastern, Bandari Youth and Changamwe Ladies from Coast and Wajir All Stars and Wajir Queens from North Eastern.
With the Nairobi Region done and dusted, Safaricom Chapa Dimba heads to Central Kenya next week.
The tournament 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.