Million-dollar prize up for grabs in new street football championship
The inaugural Rio Indoor Streetball Championship was officially launched yesterday at the Rio Sports Club and Lounge, Queenstown.
The round-robin event, which is slated to commence tomorrow at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, will be contested over eight nights and feature 24 teams. The other playing nights are November 16th, 21st, 23rd, 28th, 30th, December 7th, with the grand finale slated for the 14th.
Winner of the event will pocket $1,000,000 and the championship trophy, with the second place side pocketing $400,000 and the respective accolade. The third and fourth place sides will receive $200,000 and $100,000 respectively and the corresponding accolade.
Group-A comprises Back Circle, Buxton Diamond, Spot-7 and Rio All-Stars, while group-B contains Leopold Street, Tiger Bay, Uprising and Broad Street and group-C features Sparta Boss, Alex Village, Kingston and Melanie.
Group-D consists of LA Ballers, Bent Street, BV and Avocado Ballers, while group-E Future Stars is made up of Future Stars, Albouystown-A, Showstoppers, Stabroek Ballers and group-F involves Gold is Money, Sophia, Albouystown-B and Island All-Stars.
At the end of the group round, the top two finishers from each section and the best four third place teams will advance to the knockout round.
The tournament launch, which was attended by several members of the participating teams in the event, will be coordinated by Three Peat Promotions. It will be the first time in history that an indoor Streetball tournament will feature a winner’s prize of $1,000,000.
The other sponsors include Banks DIH Ltd under the Guinness Brand. Rawle Welch, Three Peat Promotions Co-Director praised the sponsors for investing in the format which will be instrumental in developing the format, adding that the composition of the teams was finalized to cater for the various regions.
He further requested that the respective teams and fans conduct themselves in the ideal manner, which will aid creating the ideal environment for a spectacular and incident free tournament.
Meanwhile Wayne Griffith, referees coordinator said, “I expect high quality and clean football throughout tournament, the players deserve it because they have been playing throughout the year. It’s the same format and it’s good to know that a corporate entity can come forward and support the sport.” Below features the fixtures for the first two nights of the competition.
Day-1-Thursday November 14th Alexander vs Kingston-19:00hrs Spot-7 vs Buxton Diamond-19:30hrs Back Circle vs Rio All-Stars-20:00hrs
LA Ballers vs BV-20:30hrs Leopold Street vs Uprising-21:00hrs Tiger Bay vs Broad Street-21:30hrs Sparta vs Melanie-22:00hrs
Day-2-Saturday November 16th
Sophia vs Island All-Stars-19:00hrs Alexander vs Melanie-19:30hrs Albouystown-A vs Showstoppers-20:00hrs Future Stars vs Stabroek Ballers-20:30hrs Leopold Street vs Broad Street-21:00hrs Gold is Money vs Albouystown-B-21:30hrs Kingston vs Sparta-22:00hrs