September 17 – Safaricom, which has over 29.5 million subscribers in Kenya to a variety of telecoms services including ‘mobile money’, has partnered with Spain’s LaLiga focusing on grassroots football.
LaLiga has concentrated on expanding its brand in Africa with offices in South Africa and Nigeria and representation in Kenya. Last year both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid played friendlies on the continent.
The deal with Safaricom centres around the second edition of the Chapa Dimba Na Safaricom youth football tournament which in its first season saw 1,500 teams take part with a final played at the Bukhungu stadium in Kakamega.
LaLiga scouts will select an All-Star team that will get an opportunity to train and play in Spain.
“We are very excited to be bringing on board LaLiga to add to the already existing … The all-star team selected will get a chance to attend a 10 day the training camp in Spain and will also play a few friendly games against the world’s best Spanish LaLiga academies”, said Charles Kare, Acting Director, Consumer Business Unit, Safaricom.
The tournament is targeted at male and female youth talent aged between 16 and 20 with an aim of developing grassroots football, and finding the best talent for the national teams.
“When we launched the first edition of Chapa Dimba Na Safaricom, we promised to offer young, gifted footballers a platform to showcase their talent. We kept our promise with 13 players from season one getting the chance to join under-20 national team. Several players have also been signed up by the local top leagues for both men and women. We are looking forward to unearthing even more talent in season two,” said Nick Mwendwa, Kenyan FA (FKF) president.
It is an innovative sponsorship approach by both Safaricom and LaLiga. While not just relying in the power of the LaLiga brand and its big clubs, it is working at grassroots to build hands-on engagement with Kenyan footballers.
Launched at the weekend in Kenya, Gregory Bolle (pictured left), head of global partnerships and marketing, LaLiga, said: “If the talent on show today is anything to go by, then LaLiga certified coaches will be in for a tough time selecting the all-star team that will travel to Spain. We are really excited about this partnership with a leading brand such as Safaricom and we look forward to hosting the young boys and girls who will have been chosen”, said Gregory Bolle, Head of Global Partnerships and Marketing, LaLiga.
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