Mylik Tournament goes to the regions

Accra, March 31, GNA - The third annual Mylik Classic Under 19 Soccer Tournament, which will run from April to November this year will feature representatives of all the 10 regions of the country.

Mr. Kofi Bawuah, director of Mylik Sports, organisers of the tournament told the GNA Sports on Wednesday that the new format was to give the competition a national character and entice sponsorship with its eight months spread. He said unlike in past where teams were handpicked to take part in the tournament, this year's competition would attract a participation fee of a meagre 300,000 cedis per club to add more seriousness to the tournament and make it more competitive.

Expatiating on the new format, the director said the preliminary rounds of the tournament will be on regional basis and two teams will emerge from each zone to participate in the national championship. Mr Bawuah said the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions will constitute Zone One while Ashanti and Brong Ahafo will form Zone Two and Central and Western Regions will make up Zone Three. Volta and Eastern Regions will merge into Zone Four while Greater Accra constitutes Zone Five and Tema makes up Zone Six.

The Director said Tema has been given a separate zone because of the abundance of youth teams in the harbour city. He said the three top placements in each Zone would receive medals and token cash prizes, same as the national champion and the first and second runners up, adding that every step would be taken this year to rid the competition of the menace of overage players so that a true national Under 19 champion would emerge.

Mr Bawuah said the final phase of the tournament would hold in Accra for five days. He said though the tournament has failed to get the fans to the stadiums in their numbers, he was satisfied that it has been offering youth players the opportunity to showcase their talents and hoped very soon the tournament would be popular enough to attract scouts from Europe and Asia.