THE Road to Anfield 2017 Zimbabwe edition, a popular five a-side football tournament hosted by Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited (Stanchart), is back after a one year hiatus, with teams set to tussle for a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to English Premiership giants Liverpool.
BY HENRY MHARA
Stanchart, in a statement yesterday said 16 teams, selected from the institution’s clients, will face off at a national tournament to be held at the bank’s Sports Club in Harare on March 4.
“Participating teams will be drawn from the bank’s existing clients in its various business segments, that is, client and institutional clients, commercial banking and business banking. This tournament provides Standard Chartered Bank with a platform from which to actively engage its clients and staff, who are football fans. It is also an opportunity for Standard Chartered Bank to reinforce its partnership with Liverpool FC and generate direct benefits to the businesses,” the bank said.
The bank said organisations interested in taking part must complete and submit a registration form at its first Floor Africa Unit Square branch. The deadline for submission is today.
Lillian Hapanyengwi, the head of corporate affairs, brand and marketing, said everything is in place, with the tournament launch set for next Wednesday.
This is the second time that the bank is hosting the tournament after the inaugural event in 2015, which saw Dairibord Zimbabwe winning the national finals and representing the country at the regional finals in Zambia, where they lost in the finals.
This year, the national finals champions will represent the country in the regional finals to be held in Botswana on March 18, where they will compete with the hosts and a representative from Zambia for a ticket to represent the region at the Standard Chartered Trophy international finals to be staged at Liverpool’s famous Anfield on May 21.
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The national champions, who will travel to Gaborone and possibly Liverpool, will be fully sponsored by Stanchart.
There will also be prizes up for grabs at the national finals tournament, with the player, goalkeeper, fastest goal and the top goal scorer of the tournament set to be rewarded.
At Anfield, the regional winners will attend an English Premiership match, as well as receiving professional training sessions with Liverpool’s former players and coaches.
The Road to Anfield tournament, now in its fifth season, will see the participation of 19 markets from across Standard Chartered’s group, such as Botswana, Brunei, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Gambia, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Ten winning teams will represent their region, as they battle it out for the much coveted Standard Chartered Trophy, which went to Kenya’s Capital FM last year.
