Age group Football Tourney is Back

Age group teams from Australia and New Zealand are in the west this week for the 13th Ultimate Fiji Soccer Cup tournament.

Competition director Bruce Tilt said it was encouraging to see the good turn-out after a two year lapse due to the global pandemic Coronavirus.

“Interest is still there, this is evident with the good turn-out and we are proud to see the partnership with Fiji Football continue,” Tilt said.

The visiting teams are from New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria from Australia and New Zealand sides. Yesterday afternoon competition for the boys’ development (Under-12) and girls’ (Under-14) kicked off at three venues in the west, at the Nadi Sangam Primary, Football Academy ground in Ba, and Lautoka’s Central College.

“We are delighted to come back, now that Covid is gone – this is a good start with the boys 12s and girls 14s competing,” he said.

“We’ve been given the go ahead by the Fiji FA to invite sides, it is good to start building up the tournament, and hopefully next year it would be getting in more teams.

Tilt was a guest at the Pacific Community Cup final where Ba defeated Nadi 1-0 in front of a bumper crowd at Nadi’s Prince Charles Park on Sunday.

“It is good to come to Fiji a few days earlier. There are definitely talented players here who could do bigger things in New Zealand and Australia,” he said.

Tilt also had the chance to watch Fijian U13 and the U15 development sides plus the senior women’s game.

He confirmed that on December 6 – 11, they would be hosting the senior women’s competition in South Australia which the Fijian national women side will also be participating in.

“It is an opportunity for the Fijian women players to benchmark their performance against an Australian (South Australian senior women) state team.”