Airtel Tanzania handed over sports gears, including jerseys, shin guards, balls and socks to teams that will be taking part in the forthcoming U-17 football tournament dubbed Airtel Rising Stars.
The talent scouting tournament is set to commence at the regional level next Monday, bringing together football regions of Ilala, Temeke and Kinondoni that are expected to field both boys and girls sides.
Other regions are Morogoro, Mwanza and Mbeya, which will only participate in the boys’ category as opposed to Tanga, Ruvuma and Kigoma regions which will feature in the girls’ category alone.
All the teams have oozed confidence ahead of Monday’s kick-off, saying they have prepared well to compete and win their games. The regional matches will be used to pick the best players to form a combine team for the national ARS finals slated for July at the Karume Memorial Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Speaking during the kits handover event held at the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), Airtel Tanzania Public Relations Manager Jackson Mmbando said that Airtel was proud to be part and parcel of the youth football programme which aims to accelerate football development in Tanzania.
“We believe that our combined forces with Manchester United FC and TFF will facilitate football development in Tanzania. We have confidence in the youth that given chance and support, they are able to excel in football,” he said.
TFF Technical Director Sunday Kayuni said that he was highly impressed by the overwhelming response by the youngsters to take part in this year’s Airtel Rising Stars championships.
“The turnout has been highly impressive and encouraging and I thank Airtel for coming up with this initiative which helps us to identify more hidden soccer talents,” he said. Airtel Rising Stars football programme is an initiative designed for the African continent seeking to provide a platform for upcoming soccer talent to showcase their skills to leading scouts and coaches.
In the previous two years of the programme, Manchester United sent its school coaching staff to conduct international football clinics in Tanzania, South Africa, Gabon and Kenya where selected youngsters had opportunity to learn how to play football the Manchester United way.
To further motivate and excite the youngsters, Airtel has introduced an intercountry tournament that was held in Nairobi for the first time last year where the boys and girls had an opportunity to showcase their football talents.
The inter-continental tournament brought together ARS stars from 14 countries where Airtel does business. The ARS stars are selected at the national finals which are held by each of the participating countries under the supervision of respective national football federations.
Source Tanzania Daily News