PARTICIPANTS in the sixth Nasser bin Hamad Football Championship, which gets underway tomorrow, have finalised their preparations yesterday.
Sixteen teams are taking part this year, including defending champions Al Fakhar and last year’s runners-up Al Zelzal, who have been recently training on daily basis ahead of the tournament kick-off.
Al Fakhar, who won their first-ever title in the last tournament, were pitted against Hamad Town, Al Reem Real Estate and the Youth Centre in Group ‘D’.
The remaining eight teams were divided into two more groups as two-time winners Victorious, led by Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, will play in Group ‘A’ against Companies team, Muharraq and Um Al Hassam.
Unlike in the previous five editions, this year’s event will take place at two different venues – Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town and Riffa Club new Stadium in Hunainiya, which was especially established during the 21st Gulf Cup held last year in December.
The organising committee, meanwhile, has completed all procedures to prepare both venues to host four matches on daily basis, while the final match is scheduled to take place at Khalifa Sports City Stadium.
Meeting
The Executive Committee, headed by Shaikh Nasser’s media and information office director Tawfeeq Al Salehi, will hold its final meeting today at the Bahrain Football Association premises in Riffa to review final preparations.
Tournament director Mohammed Qassim said the committee decided to allocate a number of valuable cash prizes for football fans expected to flock into both stadiums to witness the matches.
These awards will be given away on daily basis through raffle draws on the tickets that will be distributed for free at the entry gate.
Some of the main prizes are six plots in the UK and four Kia vehicles, generously donated by silver sponsors Eamonn and Co and Bin Hindi Motors, respectively.
Qassim noted that a special committee was formed to supervise the distribution of awards on the field during the matches as well as the free tickets for the crowd, while the raffle draws will take place right after every game.
On his part, technical committee head Hassna Ismail affirmed that the committee has completed all procedures related to the teams line-ups, noting that each team was allowed to submit up to 25 players for the tournament.
Ismail added that the committee is presently finalising the issuance of players passes, lauding the significant co-operation from all the teams taking part.