This year’s Africa 5s expands to 16 countries

The 2020 edition of Castle Africa 5s has extended from eight to 16 countries for both men and women’s division, the organisers have said.

According to Castle Langer Brand Director, Kudzi Mathabire, this year’s edition will see  Castle Lager partner with six other ABinBev beer brands.

“Each year we aim to take this league to greater heights by expanding our footprint across the African continent. To effectively reach this footprint, we need a greater understanding of how each country operates and what better way to do so than partnering with brands that have that knowledge,” Mathabire said during the launch on Monday in Lago, Nigeria.

“Although the experience will be the same across the board, we acknowledge that each country has their own unique way of operating and we celebrate the melting pot of cultures coming together through a sport that we all love - football.”

According to Francis Nyende, the Nile Special Brand Manager, this year’s edition will be unique in all aspects.

“We have doubled the number of team from 8 to 16 coming to compete in this tournament but we also want at least 10 super fans to join the teams that will go on to represent Uganda,”Nyende .

He said the ladies’ team is eagerly waiting to defend the title they won last year, whereas the men’s team wants to begin from where they ended.

Trophy will manage the Nigerian leg of the tournament, while Castle Lager will manage six of the countries in Lesotho, Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Carling Black Label will manage Botswana and Namibia along with Dourada (Mozambique), Safari (Tanzania), Nile (Uganda), Club (Ghana) will each manage a single country. The entries from Cameroon, Senegal and Ivory Coast will be handled by the tournament’s activations agency.

Uganda were the winners of the inaugural edition of the ladies’ Africa Fives Soccer Championships last year in Dar-es-Salaam.

The Africa 5s was launched in 2018 with six countries including South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Tanzania but last year saw the addition of Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.