Nepal Inter-school National Football Tournament tipped off

Press Meet photo of the Coca Cola Cup (File Photo)

The final rounds of Nepal Inter-school National Football Tournament, better known as Coca Coca Cup, tipped off at Nepalese capital city, Kathmandu. The final rounds of the tournament will feature 16 teams in boys’ section and eight in girls’ section selected through district and regional level qualifiers.

The district qualifying tournaments were held across 42 districts affiliated to All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). A total of 1,010 teams in boys’ category and 101 teams in girls category participated in the qualifiers.

Two teams each from Eastern, Central and Western regions and one each from Mid-western and Far-western regions were qualified for the final round in the boys’ category. Eight teams from the capital, Kathmandu, were also selected for the final rounds through a separate qualifying tournament held in the capital.

Meanwhile, the girls’ category final round will feature a total of eight teams – four from Kathmandu and one each from Eastern, Central, Western and Mid-western regions.

The boys’ teams are divided into four different groups and the girls’ teams into two groups. In boys’ category, the group winners and runners-up of each group will enter quarterfinals of the tournament while in the girls’ section, the group winners and runners-up will qualify for the semifinals.

Siddhartha Vanasthali and Gandhi Adarsha from Kathmandu district , Bhanu Memorial from Morang district and Shree High School from Mahottari district are drawn in Group A of the boys’ section. Group B consists of Army School (Bhaktapur district), Apple Academy of Kathmandu district, Gandaki of Kaski district nd Kameshwar of Kailali district.

Bal Srijanalaya and Creative Learners Academy of Kathmandu district are in Group C along with Bhootpurva Sainik of Syangja district and Jana Higher Secondary School of Surkhet district. Similarly, Gyanodaya International Residence and Kathmandu Valley of Kathmandu district, Sautha of Morang district and Setidevi of Sindhupalchowk district make up the Group D.

In the girls’ section, Arunima and Army School from Kathmandu district are drawn in Group A alongside Janajyoti of Rautahat district and Deep Jyoti of Banke district while Group B comprises Apple Academy and Modern Indian of Kathmandu district, Singhadevi of Morang district and Tops of Kaski district.

The top four teams in the boys’ category will be awarded cash prizes of Rs 300,000, Rs 150,000, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively while the top four girls’ teams will receive Rs 200,000, Rs 150,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.

Bottlers Nepal, the producer of Coca-Cola, is the title sponsor of the tournament and provides Rs 4.5 million annually to ANFA to hold the Inter-school National Football Tournament.