Shinas, Al Badyah and Al Arabi reach final Oman Qualifiers of Volkswagen Junior Masters

Muscat: Volkswagen, represented in Oman by Wattayah Motors, has announced the conclusion of Sohar Qualifiers of the 2016 Volkswagen Junior Masters Oman U-13 Football Tournament. The qualifiers saw three teams, ‘Shinas’, ‘Al Badyah’ and ‘Al Arabi’, make their way to the final Oman qualifiers that will take place on February 13 in Muscat.
The Sohar Qualifiers, which took place at the Al Arabi Football Ground, was split into two groups of four teams. Taking top honours in Group A were the players from the ‘Shinas’ team, while the ‘Al Arabi’ team topped Group B. The runners up of both groups, ‘Al Badyah’ and ‘Al Najoom’ respectively, then battled it out. The match ended with ‘Al Badyah’ securing the final spot reserved for the region in the Oman Qualifiers.
Commenting on the tournament, Andrew Squires, the General Manager of Wattayah Motors, said: “We have witnessing an overwhelming response for the qualifiers this year with eight teams participating in the qualifiers in Sohar and with a further 13 teams to take part in the Muscat qualifiers later this month. On behalf of Volkswagen and Wattayah Motors I would like to congratulate the three teams from Sohar that made it to the final Oman qualifiers and wish them the very best of luck in the upcoming tournament.”
Following the Muscat regional qualifiers, which is to take place on January 23, the eight qualifying teams including three winners from Sohar will take place in the Oman Regional Qualifiers on February 13. The winners and runners-up of the Oman Regional Qualifiers will then join those from Kuwait, Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the Volkswagen Junior Masters Middle East 2016 Tournament, which will be held in Dubai on March 4 and 5. The winner of the finals will then be crowned Volkswagen Junior Masters Middle East Champions. The winners of the Middle East finals will then head to Paris in May 2016 to represent the region at the Volkswagen World Junior Masters.
The Volkswagen Junior Masters was established 10 years ago by Volkswagen AG as part of its commitment to support youth and sports around the world. The tournament has since grown to include 4,700 youth players, 333 teams, and 245 dealers in its home country alone. Today, the tournament takes place in 23 countries worldwide. The tournament provides young footballers with a chance to enjoy the sport and compete fairly and has, in the process, become the biggest youth-oriented football tournament in the world.
This international youth tournament is aimed at all players under the age of 13 who will first compete in regional qualifiers. The format of these qualifiers vary from country to country. In Oman all matches follow FIFA rules recognised by the Oman Football Association together with certain conditions of play as set out by the association to accommodate for the fast-paced nature of the tournament.