Fifty four matches in Schools soccer championship
For the first time in schools football history, four International Schools will play head-to-head alongside top teams in the schools arena as the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) associate themselves with Kotmale Chox in kicking off the Schools Under-19 Football Championship.
The championship, featuring 20 school teams in contention, promises to be a new spectacle in schools football, with a total of 54 matches lined up to be played on home and away basis.
With a new format in action, the 20 school teams will be grouped into four, with five teams in each of them. The FFSL is of the view that, this is a tournament long overdue, and for the first time the organisers will take off the traditional penalty shootouts if a game ends in a deadlock.
“We are traditionally used to go for penalties soon after fulltime if the game is a draw. It’s been in practice at all levels. But if we are planning of getting somewhere in the international arena, we must change. Our players should get used to play on extra time as our players are not used to play beyond the full duration of the game. This tournament will be made use as a platform to get our players adjusted and accustomed to the world trend,” Ranjith Rodrigo, the head of FFSL stated.
Kotmale Chox, a subsidiary of Cargills PLC, the national partner of Sri Lanka football, has spelled out its commitment to the sport by touching the most important category of all, the youth.
The tournament is set to kick off on May 22 with the game between schools football powerhouses Zahira College Colombo and Hameed Al-Husseinie College at the Sugathadasa Stadium after an official opening ceremony. The tournament will continue for two more months with the final being set to be played on July 14. In the meantime an estimated 40 league round games and further 12 second round games are on cards before the competition comes to an end with a third place playoff and the grand final.
Besides the curtain-raiser blockbuster the competition will also feature three pairs of traditional rivals meeting each other outside their annual meetings. The Group ‘A’ consists of Saints rivals, St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s colleges in addition to Holy Cross College Kalutara, Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa and Lyceum International Nugegoda. The Blues rivals Royal and S. Thomas’ will be the key attraction in Group ‘B’ which also features strong contenders Maris Stella College Negombo, St. Mary’s College Negombo and Royal Institute.
Group ‘C’ comprises of Zahira College Colombo, Hameed Al-Husseinie College, Hindu College Colombo, Lumbini College and British School of Colombo. The Maroons rivals Ananda and Nalanda compete from Group ‘D’ which also comprises of football strongholds De Mazenod College and St. Benedict’s College Kotahena in addition to Overseas International School.
Of the four league round games each team will get the opportunity of hosting two and playing host in the other two. The ‘home and away’ system will be in effective in the second round, where the top two teams of each group will advance to the quarter-final stage. From the semi-finals onwards the organisers are planning to bring the competition to Sugathadasa Stadium, where the third place playoff and the final games are confirmed to be played.
“This system would bring back the lost glory and fan base for schools football in the country. Under-19s age group is the gateway to becoming national stars and it is very vital that we play this tournament with a massive impact. If we fail to focus on schools we cannot expect football to prosper at national and international level. We have to initiate from somewhere and this is the most ideal way of breaking the silence,” Rodrigo added.