Chipata the provincial capital of Eastern Province is this festival season full of football activities for all ages and both genders. Chipata Central member of parliament Moses Mawere who is also a former minister of sports is sponsoring a k130,000 rich football tournament for all FAZ-affiliated teams who are in his constituency.
The tournament is called Moses Mawere Christmas tournament and it has three categories namely, The senior teams which comprise teams in division I, II, III, The womens teams, and The under 15 boys.
The tournament which was flagged off on 16th December 2020 by Hon Moses Mawere will have the finals played on Sunday the 27th December 2020.
In the men’s category, there are 15 teams namely Chipata city council, Panza, Police Bullets, Prison Leopards, Smiling kids, Zesco Chipata FC, Genesis united, Black Tigers, Eastern Eagles, Institute United, Ten Ten, Chipata Dynamos, Green Rangers, Kumawa stars and Lujeka. The favorites to win in this category are Chipata city council who have a formidable side that is experienced and has been together for so long, Panza is also favorited as they were runners-up in November in the FAZ Eastern Provincial tournament losing one-nil to Petauke United in the finals and they will look to redeem themselves by winning this tournament.
Prison Leopards Chipata is also another side with a chance to grab this one but they have to work extra hard. Zesco Chipata FC rank as another favorite as they are one of the most well-sponsored sides in the province and they have lured several good players in Eastern province this year to join their team.
In the female category which is an open one as it has no restrictions to ages and teams, any female team can participate so long it is affiliated with FAZ. It is seeing 7 teams participating in it which are Chipata girls, Eastern Queens FC, Genesis FC, Kanjala Girls, Mchenga Queens, Panza Queens, and smiling with Smiling Kids. The favorites to walk away with the top prize award in this category are Smiling Kids who are the first women team to be formed in Chipata and have good players who have been together for a long time with Panza Queens being other favorites as they have numbers with most of them tapped from rural areas who would want to prove a point that football is not only in town, they have posted good results in the recent past.
In the under 15 category for bots, 14 teams are participating in it and these are Black Tigers FC, Chipata United Harvesters FC, Jubex Academy, Kuchekuche FC,Lujeka FC,Magazine modern stars,Mchenga sports Academy FC,Power House FC,Red Sport FC,Smiling kids FC,Super Young Green Eagles FC,Young Ten Ten fc and Youth Care Entertainment FC. The favourite are Smiling kids FC who have well established junior ranks in the district from under 12-20.
Money will be shared equally for all winners in all three categories. All winners from 1st to 4th finish in each category will receive prizes as follows;
(i) 1st prize; football balls worth K550, Cash Money K2,000, Set of jersey worth K5650 all totaling to k8,200
(ii) 2nd prize; football balls worth k550 , Cash Money k 1,500, Set of Jersey worth K5650 totaling to K7,700
(iii) 3rd prize; football balls worth K550, Cash Money K1000, Set of Jersey worth K5650 totaling to K 7,200
(iv) 4th prize; football balls worth K550, Cash Money K750, Set of Jersey worth K5650 totaling to K6,950.
