The initiative runs throughout Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and participants can win instant cash prizes.

Caroline Ndungu, EABL marketing director - Kenya said: “The refreshed new season of the Guinness Football Challenge will not only deliver exciting show content for viewers across East Africa, but also open up participation to thousands of football fans through their WAP enabled mobile phones.”

The television game show will be aired every Thursday evening on NTV in Kenya, and partnering broadcast stations in Uganda and Tanzania every Wednesday evening. Contestants on the game show were selected during audition events held two months ago in Nairobi, Entebbe and Dar es Salaam.

The online platform, dubbed “Guinness Football Challenge Mobi-game” can be played from any WAP-enabled mobile handset, by logging onto www.m.guinnessvip.com.

The top four players at the end of the three month challenge will be given the chance to step up and demonstrate their football knowledge in a final episode of the Guinness Football Challenge, where they will play alongside four African football stars – Jay Jay Okocha, Marcel Desailly, Rigobert Song and Kalusha Bwalya.

The third pillar of this year’s Guinness Football Challenge is an in-bar promotion that seeks to reward loyal consumers with cash prizes. A specially assembled “Guinness Team” will visit bars across Kenya every Saturday evening, issuing a Guinness Football Challenge Game Card with a multiple choice football question to all consumers found drinking Guinness.