The second edition of ThePapare Football Championship, the U20 All-Island Schools Football tournament, is powered by Sri Lanka’s No. 1 Sports Hub, ThePapare.com and will be conducted from 2nd January to 23rd February 2020.
Twenty schools from all over the island including two each from the Jaffna and Kinniya, participated in the inaugural event, with St. Joseph’s College, Colombo being crowned champions after a thrilling final encounter decided by penalties against Hameed Al Husseinie College.
ThePapare.com backs this tournament, providing not only sponsorship but the required media coverage through previews of all teams, news and match report coverage, photo albums of all matches, highlights and Live streaming.
This time too, the tournament will feature 20 teams, divided into four groups of five, with the top two from each group progressing onto the quarterfinals of the tournament. While the early stages will be worked off in a league format, the latter will be knock-outs.
- Group A – St. Joseph’s College – Colombo, Gampola Zahira College, Kingswood College – Kandy, Royal College – Colombo, Jaffna Central College
- Group B – De Mazenod College – Kandana, St. Patrick’s College – Jaffna, St. Sebastian’s College – Katuneriya, Dharmadutha College – Badulla, Maris Stella College – Negombo
- Group C – Al Aqsa College – Kinniya, Zahira College – Colombo, Gateway College – Colombo, Holy Cross College – Kaluthara, St. Benedict’s College – Colombo
- Group D – Ginthota Zahira College – Galle, Hameed Al Husseinie College – Colombo, Baduriya Central College – Mawanella, St. Henry’s College – Jaffna, St. Peter’s College – Colombo
The key goals of initiating a tournament such as ThePapare Football Championship was to grow the ‘beautiful game’ in the country and to help nurture young talent through it.
Matches will be streamed LIVE and exclusively on ThePapare.com, whilst Dialog Now (Channel No. 1) on Dialog Television and the MyTV app (with no Data charges applicable for Dialog customers) will telecast and stream matches from the quarterfinal stage onwards, scheduled to commence in February.
Sharing his thoughts on the tournament, Mangala Hettiarachchi, Senior General Manager – Global and Content Services, Dialog Axiata PLC, said,
“Dialog has been a key sponsor of Football in Sri Lanka over the past few years, which is why ThePapare.com is delighted to continue their partnership with the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association in powering the premier schools tournament. We hope the added exposure through ThePapare.com, MyTV and Dialog Television will benefit the schools and players. We wish all the teams the very best and look forward to a great tournament.”
Speaking on the event, Secretary of the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association Nalaka Dissanayake said,
“We are thrilled that ThePapare.com has decided to partner with us once again in a tournament that was a roaring success last time around. We are especially grateful to the sponsors for the support in involving outstation schools in this tournament. We are sure the players too will bring their game up a level with the added exposure.”
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