Everton will visit Tanzania to play a pre-season friendly as part of the Club’s preparations for the 2017/18 season.

The trip, which celebrates the Club’s new main partnership with gaming giant SportPesa, will see the Blues play at the 60,000-capacity Tanzania National Main Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam on Thursday 13 July, with kick-off time to be confirmed.

Everton will become the first Premier League side to ever play in the east African country – and will take on the winners of the inaugural SportPesa Super Cup. The two-country, eight-team tournament will see four sides from Kenya’s top tier, the SportPesa Premier League, play-off in a knockout competition against four teams from Ligu Kuu Bara, the Premier League of the Football Federation of Tanzania, for the right to take on Ronald Koeman’s side.

Earlier this month Everton announced a club-record multi-year sponsorship agreement with SportPesa which will see the gaming giant feature on the front of Everton’s playing shirts for five years.

Since SportPesa’s inception in 2014 the company has seen dramatic growth as they have quickly established themselves as a significant investor and operator in the online gaming industry.

As a community-focused company, SportPesa has pledged to change communities in Africa by investing money into multiple grassroots and professional sports including football, rugby and boxing. As well as encouraging the next generation of African sport stars, SportPesa is the title sponsor of the top-tier football competition in Kenya, the SportPesa Premier League – as well as being main partners of three teams in that league. The gaming giant has recently launched SportPesa Tanzania.

Everton has been invited to play in the east African country to celebrate SportPesa’s expansion and to inspire the next generation of Ligu Kuu Bara stars.

Source: evertonfc.com