Sixteen teams -- 11 first division clubs, three regional teams, PLA Sports Club and U-16 National Team -- will vie for the winners´ trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1,000,000. The runners-up will receive half the amount.
The teams have geared up preparation for the event, which could be the performance indicator for the upcoming Martyr´s Memorial A Division Football League. The league is slated to begin on February 12 after three years due to conflict between top clubs and All Nepal Football Association (ANFA).
The PLA Club will be playing in the big stage for the first time -- at the cost of Nepal Army Club (NAC), which pulled out of the event after ANFA decided to include the Maoist´s army.
Former Jawalakhel Youth Club (JYC) player Megraj KC is training PLA Club, which comprises youngsters aged between 17 to 22 years. The team is formed after picking 40 players for first round training from among those who were trained in seven divisions.
“We will put up a good show,” said KC, who has also trained U-14, U-16 and U-19 national teams in different periods. “Though the team consists of new faces, I am sure they will perform better than half of the participating teams.”
The team is training twice a day for four hours. Ashok KC, another well-known football coach, is also looking after the team since July 2009. The PLA Club is drawn along with Manang Marsyangdi Club (MMC), Machhindra and ANFA U-16 in Group C.
MMC, the title holders of the Pepsi 7-A-side International Football Tournament, had been struggling to regain its past glory after finishing fourth in the last national league. This event could be a revival for the club that had won six national leagues in the past.
The team is, however, studded with new faces and Tashi Tshering will be leading them. “Most of our regular players have retired so we have formed a team that included 10 U-19 players from ANFA Academy,” coach Tshering Lobsang said. “The team is training together for 10 days now.”
On Wednesday, Lobsang will judge the strength of the team in a friendly against the Armed Police Force (APF) Club. “We had little time for preparation as ANFA informed us a couple of weeks ago,” Lobsang said adding that for MMC, the event is more of a trial for the upcoming national league.
Nepal Police Club is the favorite - for it is the defending champions of the national league and a perennial football powerhouse.
The club is not conducting training on its own as seven of the U-23 players are in the closed camp training for the South Asian Games (SAG) and seven others were in the team that just returned from SAFF Championship in Bangladesh.
“The team will be finalized on Friday,” said coach Birat Krishna Shrestha. “Without training too, our players have good coordination as they have been playing together for a long time.”
Shrestha rates Nabil Three Star Club as the toughest opponent in absence of NAC. “All teams will be equally tough as we have not played against them for a long time.”
The police team is with NIBL Friends´ Club, Samsung JYC and Eastern Regional Team in Group A.
Other teams in the event are NTSC, Ranipokhari Corner Team, Boys Union and Mid/Far West Regional Team in Group B; APF Club, New Road Team, Sankata Club and Western Regional Team in Group D.
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