Luis Javier Garcia will grace the Chapa Dimba Na Safaricom National Final set for Kinoru stadium, Meru County next week.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona winger will feature in this season’s finale as a LaLiga ambassador and will take part in some mentorship clinics. He will also attend the semifinal and final games of the tournament.
The Legendary Spanish footballer played for top European clubs including Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. He played 150 games in LaLiga scoring 22 goals. He represented his country 20 times and was a member of Spain’s 2006 World Cup squad.
The Spanish Star also played for Liverpool in the English Premier League winning the Champions League in that time.
“We are very excited to leverage on our partnership with La Liga and have the legendary Luis Garcia grace this year’s national finals in Meru. We urge our youth teams who will be in Meru to use this opportunity to gain as much knowledge and skills as possible from him during the mentorships sessions. There is a lot of untapped talent in Kenya and that is why Safaricom is giving young talented soccer players a platform to showcase their skills,” said Sylvia Mulinge, Chief Customer Officer – Safaricom.
The national finals follows a series of regional finals played across the eight regions with over 1,600 teams taking part in the tournament that begun in October 2018 with group stages.
The programme was started with an aim of promoting grassroot football and propelling gifted players into the national team.
This year, an All-star team was selected from the 8 regional finals and attended a training camp in Spain during which they played against local youth sides.
From the inaugural season, over fifteen young players joined the Kenya Premier League and the National Super League.