Kenyan giants AFC Leopards arrived in Dar-es-Salaam early Saturday morning for the 2019 SportPesa Cup.
Ingwe are staying at a high-end hotel in the outskirts of Dar and are expected to have their first training session this evening at the National Stadium, which has a capacity of over 60,000.
Leopards’ arch-rivals Gor Mahia, who are two-time champions and current holders, alongside Bandari and Kariobangi Sharks, are expected to jet in later Sunday evening.
Ingwe, who are the 2017 finalists are led by head coach Marko Vesiljevik who is optimistic of good performance ahead of their opening match against Simba SC.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “This competition is great for the club and the players to show the continent what they are made of.” [/perfectpullquote]
“We’re coming off an important league win and we still have a couple of days to train in Tanzania. I’m confident we will put on a great show,” Vesiljevik told SportPesa News.
The eight-team tournament, comprising of four teams from Kenya and four from Tanzania, will run from 22nd to 27th January.
The semi-finals will be played on January 25 while the third-place playoff match will be staged on the final day at 2 p.m according to the organizers.
The tournament will be covered live for the Kenyan, Tanzanian and Sub Saharan Africa audiences.
In Kenya, NTV, K24, national service Kenya Broadcasting Corporation in addition to pay television channels GOtv on SuperSport Select 1 will air the matches.
The winner of this tournament will lift the gleaming trophy, scoop USD30,000 and get the big opportunity of hosting English Premier League side Everton FC.
This will be the second time Everton will visit East Africa after their first tour of Tanzania in 2017 where they played a friendly with Gor, with the English side prevailing 2-1 at the National Stadium in Dar.
The tournament has been hailed as a platform to showcase the talent of local players with former Gor star duo, Rwandese striker Meddie Kagere and Uganda international, Godfrey Walusimbi earning lucrative moves to Simba and South Africa titans Kaizer Chiefs following their impressive displays at last year’s edition in Nakuru.
