Ready to roll
FIJI FA CONFIRMS FIXTURES AS TEAMS GEAR UP
THE National Football Premier League kicks off with four exciting matches at four venues this weekend.
Fiji FA competitions manager Amitesh Pal says all the four matches in the opening round will be exciting.
“Well, I would say it is going to be a series of thrilling and exciting matches as all the eight premier division teams had more time to prepare for the league this season,” said Pal.
“The delay in the competition gave teams time to test their strength in the friendly matches and work on their weakness.”
Pal said it would be hard to predict the winners in all the matches.
“All teams are equally strong and it will be hard to predict who will win the matches,” said Pal.
“The fans will surely see some nailbiting matches this weekend as fireworks are expected to explode in every match.”
Pal said to add more flavour to the league there would be the curtainraiser matches for the fans to enjoy this year.
“Fans will also have opportunities to see the women’s teams playing in the Fiji FA Super League as curtainraiser to all the matches at four venues,” confirms Pal
This Saturday Labasa will host Ba at Subrail Park in Labasa at 1.30pm while Labasa women’s team will play Ba women at 11.30am as the curtainraiser.
Labasa is on a high after winning the Pillay Garments Champion versus Champion series under new coach Ravneel Pratap and with the inclusion of Solomon Islander Marlon Taihoa, Nasinu’s Naivakananumi,
Jone Naraba and Isikeli Ratucava. The Babasiqa Lions will be a strong outfit against the traditional giants of Fiji football in front of their home fans while the Men-In Black under coach Kamal Swamy will be out to upset the CVC champion and start the season with a win.
Three interesting matches will be played on Sunday at different venues at the same time.
At Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka, Nadroga will host Nadi at 3pm which is expected to be a nailbiting fixture. Nadroga returns to the top level competition after five years and have been preparing well for the season under coach Ramesh Sharma.
They have recruited some players and will be playing with the support of their home crowd while Nadi is coached by former Ba and national rep Shalen Lal.
The Suva women’s and Nadroga women’s teams will play as curtainraiser for the match at Lawaqa Park in 3pm.
Lautoka will host Navua at Churchill Park in Lautoka.
This will be the feature match of the opening round as both teams have recruited some new players and under new coaches. Former Lautoka assistant coach Amit Prakash is in charge of Navua while former Nasinu and Tailevu Naitasiri coach Tagi Vonolagi will stand in for the Blues this season.
Both teams have been playing friendly matches and have tested their players with mixed results but it is going to be a big test for both coaches this Sunday.
Before the Lautoka v Navua match, the official opening of the 2021 National Premier League will be held at 2.30pm at the ANZ Stadium in Suva, where the Capital City side will host Rewa in the southern derby.
Suva will come out firing after their loss against Labasa in the Pillay Garments Champion v Champion series last weekend.
Suva is the only district that has retained its coach and has signed some new players as well this season while Rewa is mentored by Rodick Singh who was the coach for the baby Tigers last season.
The Rewa women’s and Tailevu Naitasiri women’s teams will meet in the 2021 Fiji FA Super League at 1pm.
The ticket price at all the venues for the two matches will be $5 flat while child under-10 is free.