The 2024 edition of the Grassroots Soccer Festival is set for Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre on Sunday.
Founders of the event, Malawi Grassroots Soccer Development Foundation (MGSDF), will stage the festival in conjunction with their strategic partners Malawi Schools Sports Association (Massa) and Vortnet Limited.
MGSDF Chief Executive Officer and founder Willy Yabwanya Phiri said the day-long festival will attract selected primary school teams for girls and boys competing in their respective categories on a round-robin basis with the ultimate winners receiving prizes and miniature trophies.
“The foundation will also dress the participating teams and provide them with means of transportation and food for the duration of the tournament,” he said.
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Yabwanya Phiri said the foundation wants to build on the success of the inaugural event held at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe last December. He said the festival takes place in every region on a rotational basis to leave no one behind in the foundation’s quest to develop well rounded human beings and footballers.
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Yabwanya Phiri, who is the main sponsor of the festival and the foundation, has since called on the public and private sectors to support the foundation by sponsoring the activities. “The approach of the foundation to grassroots football is different. Its approach is robust and all-inclusive, leaving no one behind, including the marginalised groups in society such as the physically and mentally challenged children.
“I urge all Malawians to support this cause. We want to empower our youths with general life skills using football as a vehicle. We focus on the development of a human being as a whole,” he said.
Massa President Blackson Malamula said the initiative will help unearth a lot of promising youngsters. “We did not hesitate to partner MGSDF because we know the project will help uncover hidden talent in youngsters,” he said. MGSDF is a not-for[1]profit organisation duly registered in Malawi and Canada.
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