Kenya's national soccer team, Harambee Stars, will travel to Brazil to watch the World Cup, thanks to President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta's sponsorship.
Kenyatta, who handed over $120,000 sponsorship to the 17 players and four officials Friday, expressed optimism that the support to the national soccer team would encourage and inspire it to improve performance, reports Xinhua.
In sponsoring the team to Brazil, President Kenyatta fulfilled the pledge he made a few months ago when the team won the CECAFA Challenge Cup.
"I made a personal pledge that I and my wife Margaret would sponsor our team to Brazil to give them the opportunity to watch the world cup as a way of encouraging and inspiring," Kenyatta said.
The team will depart for Brazil June 21 and will watch Nigeria confront Argentina in Porte Alegre June 25.
Kenyatta promised more investment in football in a bid to raise country's fledgling standards. He revealed that the government will soon unveil their plans for more funding to the sport.
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"The government is committed to raising football standards in Kenya and for this we understand that a lot of investment is needed. We will soon announce the kind of investment we are going to make to football.
The president underscored the governments' commitment to supporting sports as one way of promoting the talents of the youth.
He disclosed that the government would soon launch the National Lottery Sports Fund which will continuously support sports in the country.
"We are in the process of looking at different modalities to see how we can nurture our soccer team and other sports activities in the country," he said.