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Nairobi,
Kenya
Airtel Africa has today unveiled a Pan African soccer
tourney - Airtel Rising Stars Africa Soccer Championship - that will provide an
opportunity for budding stars to showcase and gauge their raw talent with the
best in the continent. The Championship will be part of the Airtel Rising Stars
program, a soccer talent initiative that has focused on identifying and nurturing soccer talent
from the grassroots onto a national stage.
The Championships will
take place on 20th to the 25th of August in Kenya’s
capital city, Nairobi. The tournament will comprise of a preliminary qualifying
round, a knockout round and a final. A draw will be conducted in Nairobi on the
15th of August to determine the group stage fixtures. The format of
the under 17 tourney will give both boys’ and girls’ teams the chance to assess
their team work and individual skills against some of the best nations In
Africa.
The football extravaganza
will attract teams from some of Africa powerhouses in the under 17 age group
such as Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, DRC pitted against upcoming nations such as
Gabon, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Burkina Faso amongst others.
The Airtel Africa championships
will be officially opened by Kenya’s Prime Minister, The Rt.Hon. Raila Odinga
and will be graced by Ambassadors representing the other 14 nations that will
participate in the extravaganza. It is expected that over 500 rising stars will
travel to Nairobi courtesy of Airtel operations across the continent.
Speaking about the
inaugural Africa Championships, Airtel Africa’s Chief Marketing Officer said:
‘’The Airtel Africa Championship is a natural product of the exciting and
dazzling skills which we have seen showcased in the on-going Airtel Rising Stars
initiative. The tournament provides the perfect melting pot of talent, cultures
and passion exhibited during the Airtel Rising across Africa.”
He added: “By designing a
bigger stage for the teams and future stars, Airtel is sending a message to the
participants, coaches, soccer enthusiasts on our long term support for sports
and activities that empower and celebrate talent.”
Airtel has confirmed that
as part of its partnership with DSTV’s sports channel, Super Sports, the Boys
and Girls final matches will be broadcasted live on 25th August
starting at 0800hrs to 1200hrs CAT.
The Final matches will
herald the kick-off of two specialised Airtel Rising Soccer Clinics which will
be run by soccer coaches from the Manchester United and Arsenal Soccer Schools.
The clinics will be held in Nairobi and Accra respectively. The Soccer clinics
will provide technical expertise to aspiring stars chosen by top coaches in the
15 African countries. To spice up the clinics, Airtel has announced that the
teams that scoop the girls and boys trophies will also attend the soccer
clinics.
The Final matches will be
followed by a pan African Music extravaganza involving four top artists from
the continent. Amongst the artist lined up for the concert are Congolese
crooner Papa Wemba, Nigerian Artist Tuface, Tanzanian Rapper AY and Kenyan
Gospel artist Daddy Owen.
Ends/…
Notes to the editor
·
The Countries that have rolled out the Airtel Rising
Stars include Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville),
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar,
Nigeria, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia
·
Airtel has two territorial partnership agreements with
Arsenal and Manchester United Football Clubs. The two agreements bestow several
rights to Airtel as the telecommunication partner in the selected markets. Key
amongst the rights is the technical expertise provided by the two clubs at the
Airtel Rising Stars soccer clinics. The clinics are run by respective club’s
soccer schools program.
About
Bharti Airtel
Bharti
Airtel Limited is a leading integrated telecommunications company with
operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi,
India, the company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in
terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G
and 4G services, fixed line, high speed broadband through DSL, IPTV, DTH,
enterprise services including national & international long distance
services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G mobile
services. Bharti Airtel had over 257 million customers across its operations at
the end of June 2012. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com
For
more information please contact:
Michael Okwiri
Vice
President, Corporate Communications
Airtel
Africa
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