Friday 26 / July / 2024
MUSCAT: A dominant Muscat Football Academy (MFA) clinched the inaugural Al Shabiba Cheltenham Muscat Challenge Cup 23 recently.
The U17 age-group tournament, organised by MFA, was held at the Cheltenham Muscat on June 10 and witnessed the participation of four Muscat-based football academy teams.
Played on a round-robin format, the nine-a-side tournament provided a lot of thrill and excitement.
Besides the hosts MFA team, the other teams that took part in the Al Shabiba Cheltenham Muscat Challenge Cup were Algeria Academy, Brazil Academy and Alpha Academy.
MFA won all their three matches to claim the title while Algeria Academy took the runner-up spot, having won one, lost one and drawn one.
Brazil Academy claimed the bronze medal after losing the runner-up spot on goal difference to Algeria.
The inaugural tournament witnessed 65 players showcasing their talents in front of a large number of kids and parents.
After the summer break, MFA will host the first edition of the Muscat Academies Youth League (MAYL) in October. The MAYL is expected to bring together hundreds of young footballers to compete against each other over a period of six months in Oman for the first time.
The league for age-groups will be held in cooperation with Muscat Media Group and will be played at the lush green grounds of Cheltenham Muscat. The league will continue till March 2024.
The league will comprise under-9, under-11, under-13, under-15 and under-17 events for the boys while the girls’ league will feature an under-14 category. While the U9 league will be a seven-a-side format, leagues for U11, U13 and U15 will be eight-a-side and the U17 league will be played on a 10-a-side basis.
