Omran to sponsor Oman Schools League football

Muscat: Omran, the Sultanate’s leading tourism-related investment, development and management company, has come forward to support the Oman grass-roots football during 2016-17 season by signing an agreement to be the sponsors of the Oman Schools League.
The agreement was sealed during an impressive signing ceremony hosted at the newly opened Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC) with AbdulWahid Al Farsi, Director of External Affairs at Omran, and Oman Schools League CEO Amin bin Saad Al Swayni Bait Saleem inking the deal.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Fahad bin Abdullah Al Raisi, Director General of Sports Development at the Ministry of Sports Affairs, Laila Al Najar, Consultant of Minister of Education and Vice-Chairman of Oman Schools Sport Association, Trevor McCartney, General Manager of OCEC, Thierry Perrot, General Manager of Intercontinental Hotel Muscat, Mustafa Al Jundi, Director of Sales and Marketing at Millennium Resort Musannah.
With Omran, the master developer of major tourism, heritage and urban developments in the Sultanate, becoming the sponsors, a number of Omran properties, including OCEC, Intercontinental Hotel Muscat and Millennium Resort Musannah, also came on board to support the league.
Oman Schools League, a nationwide football competition, is the first official league organised annually for all public and private schools in Oman and is organised in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Al Swayni Sport Services.
The League is mainly aimed at developing football talents of young players aged 15-18 and around 250 schools are expected to participate in the event. It is also hoped the tournament will spur the development of qualified cadres of students in sports administration and technical management, sports medicine and physiotherapy, and refereeing.
Speaking on the occasion, AbdulWahid Al Farsi, Director of External Affairs at Omran, said: “We’re very privileged to be able to partner with the Oman Schools League, the Ministry of Education and Al Swayni Sport Services to enhance the role of grassroots sport in the personal development of Oman’s youth. Omran is committed to the social development of Oman through its projects and activities, and the Oman Schools League football competition is another way for Omran to support the evolution of talent in the Sultanate.”
“We are also delighted to support this initiative that aims to develop young Omani talents along with our properties including OCEC, Intercontinental Hotel Muscat and Millennium Resort Mussanah,” Al Farsi added.
Oman Schools League CEO Amin Al Swayni, said: “This football competition brings together the cream of young Omani soccer talent from the 10th to 12th grades and generates a lot of excitement and interest across the nation, with an estimated fan base of 350,000. We’re looking forward to working with our partners at Omran in helping to take youth football in the Sultanate to the next level.”
“We appreciate and admire Omran’s long-standing history of supporting such fruitful initiatives around the Sultanate, and express gratitude to the company for proactively taking part in sponsoring the finals of the first official school football league in Oman,” he added.
The tournament starts at the end of October. The finals will be held end of April next year at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat where the 12 qualifying teams from the first round in each region will compete over 28 games in a nine-day period to determine the winners.