The Karen club - built at a cost of Ksh2.5 billion ($250 million) brings the total to nine clubs in Africa, seven of which are scattered across Egyptian capital of Cairo.
The Egypt-based Wadi Degla Africa Clubs is set to officially open its second venue in Kenya at Nairobi’s Mamba Village in 2021.
The first club was opened in Kenya in in November 2016 in the city's upmarket Runda suburb. The Karen club - built at a cost of Ksh2.5 billion ($250 million) brings the total to nine clubs in Africa, seven of which are scattered across Egyptian capital of Cairo namely Maadi, Nakhil, October 1, October 2, Lotus, Heliopolis and Muharam Beknin in the country’s north in Alexandria city.
Since inception in 2003, the clubs have produced Olympic champions in the games of squash, football and tennis.
East Africa is renowned for producing some of the world’s best sports personalities, such as athletic champions Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele.
Kipchoge’s feat a fortnight ago in Vienna, Austria where he ran an unofficial marathon in under two hours (1:59:40) has inspired many in the region and around the world.
At a high profile event dubbed ''Karen Happy-ning soon'' announcing the coming of Wadi Degla's second club in Kenya, dignitaries led by the Egyptian ambassador to Kenya Khaled Al-Abyad, Kenya’s chief administrative Secretary in the ministry of Sports Noor Hassan Noor welcomed the company's move.
The ceremony was also graced by the Samy Adel Samy, the chairman of the Wadi Degla Africa Clubs.
The Karen sports and leisure facility like the rest of the others in the chain, will a host Fifa approved football pitch, athletics tracks, tennis, squash and basketball courts, a martial arts centre, gymnasium, heated semi-Olympic swimming pools, restaurants, business lounges, a spa, beauty parlours, barber shop and children's play areas.
The facility will occupy 60,000 square metres of the former crocodile farm and tourist attraction, making it bigger than the Runda one, which currently sits on 40,000 metres square.
“It’s a place where you bring the families together, which is something that we value a lot in Egypt. Kenyans, are more like Egyptians in their love for sports and the spirit of family unity so this kind of project is meant to fuel that culture,” said Adel Samy.
