On the week-end of 4-5 May, Kilifi County hosted the third round of the Europe Day Football Tournament preliminaries in Malindi Secondary School. Kachochoroni school  and Mkongani schoolemerged victorious from the tournament.

Speaking during the event, Deputy Ambassador Ondrej Simek presented the tournament as an opportunity to empower the youth to pursue their dreams through sports. H.E. Ambassador Henriette Geiger had previously expressed ambitions to extend the tournament to a country-wide event in the coming years.

Besides celebrating Europe Day, the tournament is also an occasion to mark two important sports competitions taking place in Europe this year: the UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2024) that will take place in Germany from the 14 June to 14 July, and the Paris Olympic Games from 26 July to 11 August. Paris will also host the Paralympic Games from 28 August to 8 September.

16 teams (8 girls’ teams and 8 boys’ teams) competed for the chance to represent Kilifi County at the games’ finals on 17 May at Ulinzi Sports Complex. The overall top teams will be flying to Romania to enjoy a week in a football training camp while the runner-ups will receive training from the Czech Republic.

Participating teams’ in the girls’ category included Mkongari Secondary School, Mwangea Girls Secondary School, Vyambari Secondary School and Ng’ombeni Girls Secondary School, St. Johns’ Girls High School, Mtepeni Secondary School, Kakoneni Girls Secondary School and Kambeni Girls Secondary School. The boys’ teams were Vitengeni Baptist Secondary School, Malindi High School, Kizurini High School, Kajiwe High School, Msumarini High School, Mwarakaya High School, Galana High School and Mkongani Secondary School.