Former COPA Trio Land AFC Leopards Contracts

L-R: Alfred Wekesa, Geoffrey Alwala and Haroun Nyakha conduct last year's COPA national finals draw

Three players who played in the 2012 edition of the COPA Coca-Cola grassroots youth football tournament have been awarded contracts by Kenya Premier League giants AFC Leopards.

The trio, Haroun Nyakha, Alfred Wekesa and James Mazembe have been recruited to AFC’s under-19 set up alongside 7 other players who impressed during the recently concluded Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) games.

The three played for eventual champions Kakamega High School who won the schools’ title after edging out Kisumu Day 1-0 in the final. Nyakha captained the team to victory while forward Wekesa and left-back Mazembe were equally instrumental. They are currently in Tanzania for the East Africa Secondary School games which runs between August 22nd-1st September.

Nyakha and Wekesa featured for Western Stima during last year’s KPL under-19 tournament leading the team to a 4-0 victory over Tusker in the final for the western side’s maiden title. 

The Kakamega High School alias Green Commandos trio participated in the 2012 COPA under-17 edition for Western region catching the eyes of most football scouts who selected them for further training at an international camp in South Africa.

Nyakha captained the Kenyan contingent at the camp and even made it to the African ‘Dream Team’ which comprised of the best players from 15 countries who were at the camp.

The COPA Coca-Cola tournament has acted as a career launching pad to many global football superstars including Victor Wanyama, Danny Sserunkuman, Ronaldinho, Javier Hernandez, Robert Lewandowski among others.

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