On Friday, December 16, Sportslink Academy sent 19 players, six staff members, and 3 parents to Arusha, Tanzania to participate in our first ever international tournament. This is a momentous occasion. For the first time in the Academy’s history, our players will test their ability against competition beyond Tanzania.

The tournament was organized by Future Stars an academy in Arusha. It ran from Friday, December 16 to Sunday, December 18, and it included academies from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, DR Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Cameroon. A total of 308 teams participated and 44 teams from our age category (U13).

Sportslink Academy participated in the U-13 age group. Our team included players ages 11-13 and representing grades four, five, and six.
We were the youngest team by a wide margin. Despite the age difference, our players were confident entering the tournament. Since opening for our first semester 1st November, our teams have undergone a rigorous training regimen that has included friendly matches against six different academies. We held our final preparatory match on Sunday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania before camping on Tuesday 13th and traveling on Wednesday 14th.

First up for the boys was the very organised Washington SA. Straight into the tournament Opener. The half time score was 2-0. Sportslink behind, It was a very unlucky half for us with missed penalty, crossbar effort and 5 very tight missed chances. The second half started with two quick bangers to equalize before Washington SA, got a winner with 2 minutes before the final whistle.

Next against Young life academy from Arusha, was the big one having lost our first match, we played superb and attracted a lot of supporters with our style of playing however the match ended in a goalless draw.

Perhaps this wasn’t the case. In the next game, Sportslink Academy achieved our very first win in the tournament, by smashing 7-0 Phoneix Academy from Kenya. The match saw the very first hat trick of the tournament from our captain Imani Njama. The goals kept coming and the never say die attitude of the side was great to watch. After the three matches we qualified to the knockout stage.

We played Ambassador in the round of 16 and won 2-1, before beating Express in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in the quarter finals.

As is typical of a semi final, the game was niggly and hard fought, with risk taking at a premium. Sportslink Academy shaded possession but couldn’t break down a stubborn Ligi ndogo side until we picked an opener in the second half 1-0. Could Sportslink avoid penalties and go one step further? No. Not long before the end, Team Ligi ndogo equalised. Desperate to avoid the lottery of penalties, Sportslink Academy surged forward in search of what would have been a winning goal and rattled the cross bar with a late effort. As the ball bounced down it looked like it may have crossed the line but Future Stars Academy had understandably not invested in goal line technology and so any appeals would have been fruitless. Penalties it was. We lost the shootout and knocked out of the tournament.

The Academy’s participation in this tournament would not have been possible without the generous support of our Official Sponsor, Open Road Logistics, our partner Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C and the Future Stars Academy, tournament organizers.