Stage set for Rising Stars soccer finals

Rising Stars soccer finals aimed at talent scouting are expected to kick off at the Karume Memorial Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

Combine teams from Morogoro, Iringa, Mwanza and the hosts Dar es Salaam will battle it out.

Six players will be selected at the end of the tourney to join a Manchester United camp in England for talent scouting development.

The tourney is a platform for easy identification of soccer players as part of promotion of the game in Tanzania.

“We have seen such unique football talents during the preliminaries and we are looking forward to an exciting national tournament next week,” says Beatrice Singano, an official from Airtel Tanzania.

Upcountry teams are expected to arrive in Dar es Salaam mid this week for compulsory pre-tournament age verification by the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) before they can be endorsed to feature for their teams.

Airtel Tanzania will cater for accommodation, meals and transport for the participating teams.

The finals will be used to pick six best players to represent Tanzania in an international football clinic to be held in Dar es Salaam under the tutelage of Manchester United football experts.

Other participants to this clinic are from from Kenya, Malawi and Sierra Leone.

The talent scouting tourney was officially launched in June by former Manchester United striker Andy Cole at Makongo Secondary School in Dar es Salaam.

The launch served to be an inspirational to the youngsters who felt proud to be in the company of the celebrated football icon.

A total of 24 secondary schools have participated in the inaugural tourney and it is expected that more schools will be registered for the next edition.

“We have kicked off this program with boys’ category alone but our long term plan is to include girls as well,” said Singano.

She appealed to football fans to turn up in big numbers and motivate the young players during the finals.

TFF secretary general Angetile Osiah said preparations for the finals are complete and remained optimistic over the platform for coaches to scout the best players.