Airtel Pan-African Rising Stars Championship Draw Announced

The Draw and fixtures for the inaugural Airtel Rising Stars Championship have been released. Sixteen boy’s teams and twelve girl’s teams from several African Nations have been drawn in four and three respective pools of four teams each.

The Fixtures for the preliminary rounds of the tourney will be played in a league format. Several regional rivalries will be replicated during the qualifying rounds of the tournament.

The boys’ teams have been pooled into four groups as follows: Pool A has Ghana, Malawi, Kenya (1) and Madagascar. Pool B has Nigeria, DR Congo, Niger and Chad. Pool C has Zambia, Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Gabon. Pool D has Uganda, Kenya (2), Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone.

The Girls teams have been pooled into 3 groups as follows; Pool A has Kenya (1), Uganda, Malawi and Sierra Leone. Pool B has Nigeria, Zambia, Chad and Gabon. Pool C has Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya (2) and DR Congo.

The hosts, Kenya will be represented by two teams per gender. The Championships will take place on 20^th to the 25^th of August in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi. The tournament will comprise of a preliminary qualifying round, a knockout round and a final.

According the fixtures, the tournament opener will feature the hosts Kenya and Ghana Boys team. Ghana, a continental power house and two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup Champions will be hoping to make a good start against the hosts Kenya who want to perform well in-front of their home fans.

Speaking at the launch, Airtel Africa Vice President, Corporate Communications, Mr. Michael Okwiri said: ‘’The stature of the Airtel Rising Stars is growing with each season primarily due to the array of talent that we are spotting from various African country and the scalable structure that Airtel has formulated, with the assistance of partners in each country and two of the world’s top clubs, Arsenal and Manchester United.’’

The Championship is part of the Airtel Rising Stars program, a soccer talent initiative thathas focused on identifying and nurturing soccer talent from the grassroots onto a national stage. The Airtel Africa championships will be officially opened by Kenya’s Prime Minister, The Rt.Hon. Raila Odinga and will be graced by Ambassadors representing the other 14 nations that will participate in the extravaganza.

The opening and Final matches will be broadcasted live on DSTV Super Sports channels across the English speaking countries in Africa. Equally, Airtel has reached an agreement with Canal Plus to air soccer magazine in its C+ Sport and +De Foot Sports channels broadcasted across several French speaking nations in Africa.

Ends/

Notes to the editor

· The Countries that have rolled out the Airtel Rising Stars include Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Nigeria, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia

· Airtel has two territorial partnership agreements with Arsenal and Manchester United Football Clubs. The two agreements bestow several rights to Airtel as the telecommunication partner in the selected markets. Key amongst the rights is the technical expertise provided by the two clubs at the Airtel Rising Stars soccer clinics. The clinics are run by respective club’s soccer schools program.

Below are the fixtures in detail:

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ARS 2012 FIXTURE DRAW

BOYS
Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
A_{1 -}GHANA	B_{1 - NIGERIA}	C_{1 - ZAMBIA}	D_{1 –}UGANDA
A_{2- MALAWI}	B_{2 –DRC CONGO}	C_{2 - TANZANIA}	D_{2 – KENYA 2}
A_{3 - KENYA 1}	B_{3 - NIGER}	C_{3 – BUKINA FASO}	D_{3 – CONGO B}
A_{4 - MADAGASCAR}	B_{4 - CHAD}	C_{4 - GABON}	D_{4 – SIERRA LEONE}

GIRLS
Pool A	Pool B	Pool C
A_{1 -}KENYA 1	B_{1 - NIGERIA}	C_{1 -}GHANA
A_{2- UGANDA}	B_{2 - ZAMBIA}	C_{2 – BUKINA FASO}
A_{3 - MALAWI}	B_{3 - CHAD}	C_{3 - KENYA 2}
A_{4 – SIERRA LEONE}	B_{4 - GABON}	C_{4 – DRC}

Day 1	Monday 20^th August 2012
			TEAMS
Match No.	Time (Nairobi Time)	Gender	Home	Vs	Away
1	1.00pm	Boys	A₃ Kenya 1		C_{3 – GHANA}

Day 2	Tuesday 21^st August 2012
			TEAMS
Match No.	Time	Gender	Home	Vs	Away
2	9.00am	Girls	A_{1 – KENYA 1}		A_{3 - MALAWI}
3	9.00am	Girls	B_{1 - NIGERIA}		B_{3 - CHAD}
4	9.00am	Girls	C_{1 - GHANA}		C_{3 – KENYA 2}
5	11.00am	Boys	B_{1 - NIGERIA}		B_{3 - NIGER}
6	11.00am	Boys	C_{1 - ZAMBIA}		C_{3 – BUKINA FASO}
7	11.00am	Boys	D_{1 - UGANDA}		D_{3 – CONGO B}
8	1.00pm	Girls	A_{2 - UGANDA}		A_{4 – SIERRA LEONE}
9	1.00pm	Girls	B_{2- ZAMBIA}		B_{4 - GABON}
10	1.00pm	Girls	C_{2 – BUKINA FASO}		C_{4 – CONGO DRC}
11	3.00pm	Boys	A_{2 - MALAWI}		A_{4 - MADAGASCAR}
12	3.00pm	Boys	B_{2 – CONGO DRC}		B_{4 - CHAD}
13	3.00pm	Boys	C_{2 - TANZANIA}		C_{4 - GABON}
14	3.00pm	Boys	D_{2 – KENYA 2}		D_{4 – SIERRA LEONE}
Day 3	Wednesday 22^nd August 2012
			TEAMS
Match No.	Time	Gender	Home	Vs	Away
15	9.00am	Girls	A_{2 - UGANDA}		A_{3 - MALAWI}
16	9.00am	Girls	B_{2 - ZAMBIA}		B_{3 - CHAD}
17	9.00am	Girls	C_{2 – BUKINA FASO}		C_{3 – KENYA 2}
18	11.00am	Boys	A_{2 - MALAWI}		A_{3 – KENYA 1}
19	11.00am	Boys	B_{2 - DRC}		B_{3 - NIGER}
20	11.00am	Boys	C_{2 - TANZANIA}		C_{3 – BUKINA FASO}
21	11.00am	Boys	D_{2 – KENYA 2}		D_{3 – CONGO B}
22	1.00pm	Girls	A_{1 – KENYA 1}		A_{4 – SIERRA LEONE}
23	1.00pm	Girls	B_{1 - NIGERIA}		B_{4 - GABON}
24	1.00pm	Girls	C_{1 - GHANA}		C_{4 - DRC}
25	3.00pm	Boys	A_{1 - GHANA}		A_{4 - MADAGASCAR}
26	3.00pm	Boys	B_{1 - NIGERIA}		B_{4 - CHAD}
27	3.00pm	Boys	C_{1 - ZAMBIA}		C_{4 - GABON}
28	3.00pm	Boys	D_{1 - UGANGA}		D_{4 – SIERRA LEONE}
Day 4	Thursday 23^rd August 2012
			TEAMS
Match No.	Time	Gender	Home	Vs	Away
29	9.00am	Girls	A_{1 – KENYA 1}		A_{2 - UGANDA}
30	9.00am	Girls	B_{1 – NIGERIA}		B_{2 - ZAMBIA}
31	9.00am	Girls	C_{1 - GHANA}

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Airtel Pan-African Rising Stars Championship Draw Announced

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