The 48 teams have been pooled into eight pools of six teams. Radio Africa who have twice made it to the semifinals have been pooled in Group ‘D’ where they face Vivo Energy, Multichoice, Jameson United, Letshego United and Resolution Insurance .
Capital FM, the 2016 winners, are in Pool ‘E’ and will face AC Nelson, Catholic Relief Services, Oracle, Davis and Shirtliff and Wananachi Group in Pool ‘E’.
Royal Media face off with Sygenta, East African Breweries, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Zanara Actives in Pool ‘C’ . Standard Group have a date with Gertrude Hospital, LCDFC, BAT Kenya, Simba Corporation and Mett Kanai in Pool B.
Nation Media Group face off with Diageo, General Electric, APRHC, Impa stars, Jpiego and Kuwa True in Pool ‘A’. Group ‘F’ will see Mediamax meet United States International University, Safaricom, Deloitte, MFI Document Solutions and National Airport Services. Group ‘G’ features AIG Kenya, Bamburi Warriors, Kenya Nut Company, WPP Scanaad, Oil Libya FC and Copy Cat Limited.
Group ‘H’ features Bollore Logistics, Total Kenya, Galana Oil, Schneider Electric Company, Nairobi Bottlers and Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) .
The top two teams in each pool qualify for the round of 16 with subsequent rounds being played on a knockout basis. The winner of the tourney will earn a direct trip to Anfield, home of Premier League giants Liverpool. Liverpool Legend, Bruce David Grobbelaar, will be in attendance for the one-day tournament.
Grobbelaar, a former Zimbabwe international footballer, played as a goalkeeper for Liverpool FC between 1981 and 1994.
The original eccentric genius between the sticks, Bruce will be best remembered for the wobbly-legged penalty heroics which brought Liverpool the 1984 European Cup and inspired Jerzy Dudek to the same feat in Istanbul 21 years later.
-William Njuguna