A lively crowd was on hand for the opening ceremony of the 10th Ultimate Fiji Soccer Cup at Churchill Park in Lautoka on Monday.
All the teams involved in the competition paraded around the stadium before singing the national anthems of the three countries involved; Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.
This was followed by speeches from tournament director Bruce Tilt and Fiji Football Association Board of Control Member Aiyaz Umarji Musa.
Mr Musa thanked Mr Tilt for his commitment to the sport in Fiji and said the tournament was now an important fixture in the Associations calendar.
“The Ultimate Fiji Soccer Cup has now become an annual event in our calendar, rising immensely year by year since it started a decade ago,” he said.
“The tournament itself gives an opportunity to our youngsters to showcase their talents as well as give them confidence in taking their football careers to another level.
“For most of the local teams competing in the tournament this is an opportune time for you to be selected in extended squads for our national teams that will prepare for our Oceania football competition qualifying tournaments in 2020.
“I would like to appreciate the effort of Mr Bruce and his team for their effort in bringing this tournament for the past 10 years and giving opportunity to Fiji Football Association in developing our players competing with overseas counterparts.”
Mr Tilt said it was a brilliant day, adding he appreciated the presence of Fiji Football at the ceremony as well as the governing bodies ongoing support of the competition.
“The opening ceremony was fantastic,” Mr Tilt said.
“We got all the players into Churchill Park and we had between 500 to 600 players parading through, showing off all their shirts and different colours to the supporters.
“It was really good to have Fiji Football here, their board of directors, head coaches and director of coaching, not only to be a part of the opening ceremony but also to watch the games themselves.
“They want to see what the players are like as well as all of the smiles, the enthusiasm and the competitiveness of the players.”
The midday ceremony was followed by an exhibition match between IFG New South Wales under-16 girls and the Fiji’s under-16 girls side with the Australians edging the match 3-2.
Some of the other highlights of the day included the Lautoka’s 3-2 win over IFG NSW in the boys junior (under-14s) as well as IFG NSW beating Fiji South 3-2 in the boys youth (under-15s).
The last game of the day was in the boys senior division with Fiji South going down 2-1 against Manukau United of New Zealand.
With the tournament well and truly underway, action now splits to two venues on Tuesday with matches taking place in Fiji Football Academy in Ba and Nadi’s Prince Charles Park.
Boys Development (under-12s)
IFG New South Wales v Lautoka 1-3*
Boys Junior (under-14s)
IFG NSW v Lautoka *2-3
Ba v Auckland Knights 0-0
Boys Youth (under-15s)
Engadine v Fiji North *1-0
IFG NSW v Fiji South *3-2
IFG South Australia v Fiji West 0-3*
Boys Senior (under-18s)
IFG NSW v Fiji North 2-1*
Fiji West v Auckland All-Stars *2-0
Fiji South v Manukau United 1-2*
Girls Youth (Exhibition Game)
IFG NSW v Fiji Select under-16s 3-2
Girls Junior
IFG NSW v Lautoka *7-0
Ba v IFG SA 1-4*
