EU football cup in Malindi on Saturday

Dakabaricha Mixed Secondary School players and fans celebrate after winning the Marsabit Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament at the Moi Girls Secondary School, Marsabit, on March 27.

Photo credit: EU

Traffic towards the finals of the inaugural Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament intensifies in Malindi on Saturday.

This when the German Embassy hosts the Kilifi County finals of the youth tournament to select a team for the national inter-county finals in Nairobi.

The Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament is a build-up towards the celebration of Europe’s biggest sports events this year — 17th Uefa European Football Championship (Euro 2024) and the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Germany will host the Euro 2024 from June 14 to July 14 while Paris will host the Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11. The French capital will also host the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8.

To celebrate these events, the European Union (EU) Delegation to Kenya, together with its member states and with the support of the Ministry of Sports, have organised the Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament.

This weekend’s Kilifi County preliminaries will be held tomorrow and on Sunday at the Malindi High School.

Kilifi tournament

The Kilifi tournament is sponsored by the German Embassy in Kenya and will mark the third round of the competition after previous rounds in Marsabit and Homa Bay counties.

The Kilifi tournament’s preliminaries kick off at 9am Saturday with the finals slated for Sunday from 2pm.

German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth and Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro will lead the dignitaries at the finals.
Eight boys’ and as many girls' teams, all between the ages of 15 and 18, will compete.

The winners in the boys’ and girls’ finals will travel to Nairobi for the semi-finals on May 17.

In the Marsabit tournament, the first of the EU series held on March 26 and 27, Gadamoji High School took the boys’ trophy while Dakabaricha Mixed Secondary School won the girls’ title in the finals attended by EU Delegation to Kenya Deputy Ambassador Ondrej Simek.

In the second leg tournament at the Raila Odinga Stadium in Homa Bay on April 6 and 7, Kobala Mixed Secondary School and Ringa Boys High School emerged champions.

Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga and European Union Ambassador to Kenya Henriette Geiger greet the players before the finals of the Europe Day Kenya Football Tournament at the Raila Odinga Stadium in Homa Bay on April 7. 

Photo credit: EU

Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga hosted EU Ambassador Henriette Geiger and her deputy Simek at the Homa Bay tournament.