Creative Hands FC face Mukuru Combined in Sakaja Super Cup opener
A ‘slum derby’ pitting Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Division Two side FC Creative Hands against Mukuru Combined will mark the kick off of the Sakaja Super Cup at Police Sacco Stadium on October 1, 2023.
The match is expected to be explosive and re-ignite sibling rivalry from Mukuru, a slum that has produced players who have gone on to represent Kenya at international level.
They include Patrick Oboya who aside from a profesionall stint in the Czech Republic, also featured for AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker, alongside the men’s national football team.
Others are Musa Mohammed who rose to captain Kenya’s record premier league champions Gor Mahia and Paul Were who assisted Tusker win the 2011 Kenyan Premier League title before having professional stints in Greece and Rwanda.
In the first match Lang’ata Barracks Kenya army side Maroon FC entertain Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Nairobi regional league side South C.
The match will be followed by another one pitting the Kwa Reuben based FKF Nairobi East division two league side FC Creative Hands against neighbours Mukururu Combined which participates in the city’s county league at 3pm.
Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) and Members of the Nairobi County Assembly (MCAs) will play in an exhibition match as the curtain raiser of the ten week Sakaja Super Cup campaign.
The Sakaja Super Cup which has attracted 340 teams from Nairobi’s 17 sub counties will end with a grand finale on December 16th, 2023.
The tournament’s patron who is also the Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja will grace the opening ceremony accompanied by celebrated Kenyan footballers that brought glory to the country among other dignitaries including FKF officials.
Kenya’s former top flight league sides are in contention for the Sakaja Super Cup top honours and they include Red Berets playing as General Service Unit (GSU), Green Berets registered as Prisons FC, Black Mamba, Hakati Sportiff and Kangemi All Stars.
Others teams in the contest include Dagoretti Santos founded by former Harambee Stars captain Dennis Oliech and Country Bus FC the boyhood club for ex-Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama who plays in Major League Soccer (MLS) for CF Montreal and the first Kenyan to score in the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
The tournament which is being funded and organised by the Sakaja Foundation in conjunction with the local football governing body FKF, will see the winner in the men’s category taking home Ksh3 million, second placed team pocketing Ksh2 million while the third placed finishers getting Ksh1 million.
Winners of the women’s category will bag Ksh1 million as the runners get a consolation prize of Ksh500,000 as the third place finishers settle for Ksh250, 000.
There will also be cash prizes and trophies for the Most Valuable/Best Player, Best Goalkeeper, top scorer, Most Promising Player, Most disciplined player, best fans judged according to their discipline, enthusiasm and creativity, best tournament coordinator.
The organisers will kit all the participating teams with playing kit as FKF will provide the technical officials to oversee the tournament.
Foreign scouts have been invited to scout for talent and those that will have been recruited will be facilitated by the Sakaja Foundation to travel and undergo the trials.
Sakaja called on Nairobians to turn up and support teams in their respective wards which he predicted will be fun and action packed and appealed to fans and teams to observe discipline, restraint and peace.
The tournament is aimed at harnessing talents across the expansive Nairobi County.
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