A Year of Impact and Growth

2024 was a remarkable year for Cheza Dimba, the grassroots football initiative under the Tujiamini na SportPesa campaign. Designed to provide opportunities for football teams playing in the FKF Regional League and below, Cheza Dimba has gone beyond just competition—it's about talent development, community engagement, and football sustainability.

In 2024, Cheza Dimba expanded across all eight regions of Kenya, hosting tournaments that brought together grassroots teams looking for corporate sponsorship, offering them a winner-takes-all three-year sponsorship package worth KSh 250,000 annually, along with home and away kits.

With each edition, we saw passion, resilience and an undeniable hunger for success.

Achievements of Cheza Dimba 2024

🔹 Eight regional tournaments successfully hosted, drawing hundreds of teams and thousands of fans.
🔹 Over 3,000 applications received, showing the massive demand for structured grassroots football support.
🔹 More than 48 teams competed, with regional winners securing the coveted SportPesa sponsorship.
🔹 First-ever women’s team sponsored—Greenblades SPASS FC from Western Region, reinforcing SportPesa’s commitment to women’s football development.
🔹 Strong partnerships formed with county governments, FKF branches and local stakeholders to facilitate seamless tournament execution.
🔹 Massive fan engagement through on-ground activations, roadshows and social media voting, ensuring that communities played an active role in their teams' success.

Challenges & Learnings

Every great initiative faces challenges and Cheza Dimba was no exception. From eligibility verification to tight tournament schedules and logistical hurdles, each event came with its own set of lessons. One major takeaway was the need for more structured verification processes to ensure compliance with FKF regulations, guaranteeing fair competition.

Another critical challenge was the lack of proper pitches and training venues, a longstanding issue in Kenyan football. Many grassroots teams train on murram pitches, perennially uneven and dusty, while their league matches are played on patchwork fields with poor surfaces that hinder skill development and increase the risk of injury. For Kenyan football to truly prosper, investment in better football infrastructure is essential—without quality playing surfaces, even the most talented players will continue to struggle to reach their full potential.

With Cheza Dimba, we prioritized giving teams access to the best available pitches to ensure they could showcase their skills in the right conditions. However, in some regions, this meant partnering with private schools and institutions as there were no publicly available stadiums or well-maintained fields for grassroots competitions. This reality highlights the urgent need for dedicated community sports facilities, ensuring that future generations of footballers have the proper environment to develop their talent.

Another key learning was the power of fan engagement—when teams took ownership of their journey and rallied their communities, the impact was undeniable. From Kisumu to Eldoret, venues were packed with supporters eager to see their teams succeed. In every region, the teams that had the most passionate and vocal home fans backing them often emerged victorious. The energy from the stands translated onto the pitch, proving that taking advantage of and leveraging local support can be a game-changer in grassroots football.

More Than Just a Tournament – A Football Movement

Cheza Dimba is not just about finding the best grassroots team; it’s about creating pathways for young footballers to grow, compete, and believe in their potential. It’s about fostering a culture of excellence in grassroots football and ensuring that talent from all corners of Kenya has a fair shot at making it big.

A massive thank you to SportPesa, FKF, county governments, fans and all participating teams for making Cheza Dimba 2024 an unforgettable journey.