Tanzania to Host First Ever Game of American Football to be Played on African Continent

By Global Football

GRANBURY, TEXAS – The sport of American Football will be played for the first time ever on the African continent in May of 2011 at the inaugural Global Kilimanjaro Bowl.

The town of Moshi in Tanzania will host the historic game between the Drake University Bulldogs and an all-star team from Mexico, the CONADEIP all-stars representing the CONADEIP Conference on Saturday, May 21, 2011 under the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Texas-based Global Football will organize the Global Kilimanjaro Bowl where in addition to competing on the football field, Drake University and the CONADEIP all-stars will undertake a series of projects to benefit the local community and enjoy a cultural experience.

Players and coaches from both teams will climb the imposing 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro – the tallest mountain in Africa! The two teams will ascend Kilimanjaro by different routes, culminating their climbs by meeting at the summit and hoisting their respective university and national flags in a moment sure to be captured by media worldwide and celebrated by everyone connected with these teams and their universities.

“This is a truly groundbreaking and unique overseas visit that will spread the appeal of American football onto the African continent,” said Patrick Steenberge, President of Global Football.  “We are extremely proud to have been asked by Drake head coach Chris Creighton to find an opponent and put together all the trip and game production. These two teams represent high quality private universities from the United States and Mexico, and to be asked to produce the game, tour, and ancillary events is very special. But this will be much more than a football game, which is noteworthy enough, as the teams will undertake a number of memorable and worthy projects.”

The traveling football roster for Drake University, an NCAA Division I-FCS non-scholarship school located in Des Moines, Iowa, will consist of players who are eligible for the 2010 season.

“I am overwhelmed with excitement as this long time vision is now becoming a reality,” said Drake Bulldogs head football coach Chris Creighton.

“This trip will surely be one of the most incredible experiences of our lives.  The three major components of the trip are each monumental.  We cannot wait to make this happen.”

Drake’s Mexican opposition will be selected from the CONADEIP conference that will start its inaugural football season in the fall of 2010, having restructured to provide a highly competitive schedule for the long-dominant private universities in Mexico, which previously competed under the established ONEFA organization.

“It is a great pleasure for CONADEIP to have the chance to develop this project with Drake University,” said Eduardo Martínez de la Vega, CONADEIP President and Athletics and Health Promotion Director at Universidad Iberoamericana.  “We are very proud to represent the very best of academic and sport colleges in Mexico and now we will be able to offer something beyond sports, and that is the chance to have a unique life experience.

“To travel with students from a neighbor country, to visit a complete different continent for us, to experience the contact with people who live in such different conditions and to enjoy a visit to Kilimanjaro will be something for our student athletes to remember forever. We are very excited to be a part of it, looking forward for more opportunities like this one and we are sure that this is just the beginning.”

Drake University Athletic Director Sandy Hatfield Clubb said of the initiative: “Participation in the Global Kilimanjaro Bowl and the accompanying activities in Tanzania are a perfect coming together of Drake University’s mission and values. We strive to provide opportunities that will facilitate leadership learning and prepare student-athletes to be responsible global citizens and to become champions of positive change.

“There could be no better partner and opponent than the CONADEIP All Stars from Tec de Monterrey and other private school members of CONADEIP in Mexico with their shared commitment to excellence in academics and athletics.”

The orphanage service project will be coordinated through the efforts of the Iowa Resources for International Service (IRIS) as the student athletes from both teams, numbering more than 100 in total, will spend three days working at a local private orphanage to improve its facilities.

H.E. Ombeni Sefue, Tanzania’s former Ambassador to the US and Mexico who was recently appointed Tanzania’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, said: “I am pleased to hear of the Drake University football team’s May 2011 trip to Tanzania, where you will play the first American Football game on the continent of Africa.  I am indeed honored to welcome you!”

The football clinic will provide Moshi area youngsters, who have likely never seen nor touched a real American football, their first taste of the sport.  Global Football is inviting sports equipment manufacturers to donate a large number of youth balls and other equipment that can be shipped, used, and given to the children there at the clinic.

Global Kilimanjaro Bowl Schedule:

• May 17 – Teams depart USA and Mexico
• May 18 – Arrive Kilimanjaro Airport, transfer to Moshi
• May 19-20 – Practice, Youth Clinic, Safari
• May 21 – Global Kilimanjaro Bowl, Drake Bulldogs vs. CONADEIP Mexico
• May 22-24 – Youth orphanage service project
• May 25-30 – Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
• May 31 – Flight home

Family and fan travel packages will be available through Anthony Travel from September 15, 2010.  They will include round-trip airfare, accommodation, local tours, service projects, a once-in-a-lifetime safari, game admission, and more!

About Global Football
Headed by President Patrick Steenberge, a former Notre Dame quarterback and high school All-American at Erie Cathedral Prep.  During the past 14 years, Global Football has produced football games in 18 nations in North and Central American, Europe, Asia and Oceania.  Working partners include NFL, Super Bowl Host Committees, American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Notre Dame, Penn State, Pop Warner, USA Football, and numerous Division III colleges as well as National Football Federations worldwide.  www.globalfootball.com.

About Drake University
Drake’s mission is to provide an exceptional learning environment that prepares students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship. The Drake experience is distinguished by collaborative learning among students, faculty, and staff and by the integration of the liberal arts and sciences with professional preparation.

About the CONADEIP All-Stars
The team that will travel to Tanzania from Mexico will be an all-star roster of players selected from educational institutions within the CONADEIP Conference.  The conference kicks off its inaugural football season in the fall of 2010, having restructured to provide a highly competitive schedule for the long-dominant private universities in Mexico.  The eight schools within CONADEIP are Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus in Puebla, Santa Fe, Toluca, Monterrey, Estado de México and Ciudad de México and also Universidad de las Américas Puebla and Universidad Regiomontana.