Fourteen lucky budding football stars for a boot camp in Lisbon, Portugal in April 2020. This is thanks to a partnership between Upfield, the manufacturers of Blue Band, who are the nutritional sponsors of Dream Football Kenya.
Earlier in the year, the Dream Football team embarked on a scouting process across the country. The scouting process saw the selection of forty-four (44) children who joined a 10-day boot-camp at Ol Donyo Sapuk Resort from 25th November to 5th December 2019. The 10- day boot camp determined the final fourteen (14) who will fly to Lisbon next year.
Dream Team seeks to train the children with the best footballers on a move meant to inspire them to be the next soccer stars. Kenyan football legends such as Ghost Mulee, Musa Otieno and Stanley Okumbi will be present to train and mentor the students in order to prepare them for the European boot camp.
This year’s theme, ‘Train like a star with the stars’, will see that the young footballers learn from the best.
Dream Football Kenya which is undersigned by Dream Football Portugal and co-owned by Luis Figo seeks to make the next generation of international football players aged between 4 – 16 years old. This has been achieved through school football tournaments which is part of the Kenya Primary School Sports Association (KPSSA), under the Ministry of Education.
Luis Figo is a talented footballer who played for both Spanish giants Barcelona FC and Real Madrid FC. He was also the winner of the Ballon D’Or in the year 2000.
Speaking during the event, Christine Karimi, Dream Football Kenya, CEO, said the team has travelled across the country to ensure that they get the top talented children.
“It has been a successful journey and we have been able to groom the budding stars with skills that will assist them in achieving their dreams,” Karimi said.
At the boot camp, the children will undergo a 360⁰ experience that will cover nutrition, physical fitness, education and life skills. As the sponsors, Blue Band will provide breakfast to the players throughout the tournaments and this will extend during the 10-day training.
Upfield Marketing Manager, Njonjo Wanjiku, said the company will be providing breakfast to ensure that the children have the energy to train and play for the 10 days.
“The forty-four (44) youngsters are true examples of what hard work and resilience is in achieving greatness. The brand has been pushing the ‘good breakfast’ agenda with the target to reach 2 million children this year,” Wanjiku said.
The Dream Football agency is present in 5 countries with over 75 children having been scouted into various clubs in La Liga. Using mobile application as the main platform to scout talented children, the agency has partnered with Ambassador Players such as Ronaldinho ‘Gaucho’ and Mario Balotelli, with Manchester United and Real Madrid among others.
