By Reporter
The annual Nile Special 5-aside football tournament makes a return for the second successive year following a very successful inaugural campaign at the end of which the Ugandan ladies emerged African champions.
The national premier social football league is scheduled to kick off on Saturday, 4th April in Arua and Kabale at Police Grounds and Main Stadium respectively revealed the brand manager Francis Nyende during the launch of the soccer showpiece today at Fast Fusion Sports.
The unique social league is scheduled to extend its reach to various new regions in an effort to cultivate friendship bonds beyond one’s geographical borders.
“The first edition of the Nile Special 5s was a great one for us as a country. Our girls set the bar quite high and it’s up to the teams to rise to the occasion this year. The feat will certainly be harder to replicate because Uganda is no longer a little known entity in this tournament. We are giants,” said Nyende.
“But the journey starts here at home,” added Nyende. “Teams have to first be national champions before they can conquer Africa. All one has to do is to buy 5 Nile Special beers and register his or her team of five to take part in the competition; first the preliminary level, then the regionals and the grand finale. It’s the winner that this stage that gets the opportunity to represent the county at the continental tournament that will be in South Africa between the 16th and 20th of July 2020.”
Unlike the previous tournament, the national representatives will be escorted by 10 fans to the continental showpiece. To stand a chance to be among the lucky fans, one is required to participate in the Samuel Eto consumer promotion. Information on participation is available on our social media platforms.
In 2018 the campaign launched with six countries mainly from the Southern parts of Africa: South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and east African country, Tanzania. Last year, saw a major step-up with the addition of three more countries in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. In addition to widening the leagues footprint into other countries, a women’s division was introduced to the League.
The 2020 edition is set to make an even bigger impact across the continent as the tournament will be extended from eight to 16 countries in both the men and women’s division. Furthermore, the tournament will be opened to amateur and professional players.
This showpiece will see two Continental final winning teams,each bag an all-expenses paid trip to the Serie A classic derby between Inter Milan and AC Milan later this year, hosted by the renowned legend and Africa 5s ambassador Samuel Eto’o.