NAIROBI:
American Soccer’s NFL got here to Kenya this weekend for its newest competitors on the African continent because it seeks to win converts to the game.
US sports activities have more and more sought to interrupt into the African market, with the NBA launching a high-profile Basketball Africa League in 2019, based mostly in Rwanda.
Latest days noticed a 3rd annual flag soccer competitors staged by the Nationwide Soccer League (NFL) in Africa — a non-contact model of the game that has grown in reputation all over the world and can make its Olympics debut on the 2028 Los Angeles Video games.
The three-day competitors noticed Egypt emerge as winners of the lads’s contest in opposition to groups from Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, whereas the ladies’s contest was gained by Nigeria.
The occasion additionally included a talent-spotting session with NFL scouts, on the lookout for the subsequent star to hitch the league.
“Flag soccer may be very accessible, all people can play it,” mentioned Osi Umenyiora, who gained two Tremendous Bowls with the New York Giants, and now heads NFL Africa.
“Because the NFL appears to be like to develop and carry on rising particularly throughout the continent of Africa… participation is a large a part of it,” he mentioned.
“Everyone knows what sport can do for folks, it will possibly enable them to flee no matter scenario they’re in, and provides them hope, and that is what we’re making an attempt to do right here,” he added.
Nigeria has already earned itself a spot on the flag soccer world championships in Dusseldorf, Germany in August — the place it hopes to qualify for the Olympics.
“We now have been taking part in NFL flag soccer for a very long time — since 2016 — and the sport has exploded to 40 groups (in Nigeria), which provides us the sting over different nations in Africa,” mentioned Nigerian coach Ephraim Faloughi.
“I by no means thought I could possibly be an Olympian — now we’ve the chance,” he added.
The NFL has expanded internationally in recent times, taking part in a handful of its video games in Europe and South America.
