| Fadhil Yunus |
THE NFABD Under-16 Youth League Supported by FIFA will be entering a second season following an announcement by the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) that the league will commence on March 10, 2017 at the Berakas Sports Complex.
The committee is targeting a total of 14 teams in the league with 11 teams expected to join and registration is open for teams pending a screening process to fill in the remaining slots.
Dayem Haji Ali, Competitions Director of NFABD said that the format of the tournament will be two round robin stages- which will end on November- with the second one slated to be held after the Eid festivities until the concluding month.
The players who are eligible to play in the tournament are those born in 2001, 2002 and 2003, who are allowed to register for the participating teams.
The venues involved are Menglait Field ‘A’ and ‘B’, Sungai Kebun Sports Complex and the NFABD Artificial Field.
In addition to the NFABD Under-16 Youth League, the teams will also be competing for additional silverware called the NFABD Youth Cup which is knock-out football.
The NFABD Youth Cup is also expected to run in the month of August this year which is expected to feature a total of 16 teams. The 14 teams which are expected to join in the league will be entered into the cup competition.
The objectives of organising the NFABD Under-16 Youth League among others include providing knowledge to the coaches who will be coaching the under-16 teams and their opportunities to familiarise with the coaching which will enable them to create programmes.
The NFABD Youth Cup is also expected to run in the month of August this year
Besides that, the league serves to provide playing time for the players in order to adapt challenges faced against overseas teams whereby NFABD are well informed that international teams play more matches compared to the games in Brunei.
Dayem added that the two rounds of robin enabled the players to play a minimum of 30 games in one year which is the main objective for the players.
He also touched on fair play whereby there are a lot of categories to be assessed in which among others include respecting the tournament and officials and this is present among coaches and officials to show their players during matches.
The tournament also acts as a development programme as a platform from those aged 16, 18 and consequently until they reach an age where they can take part in the SEA Games and other international tournaments which other countries also aspire to.
Meanwhile, League Manager Mohammad Shahnon bin Haji Mohd Salleh said that teams who are unable to take part in the NFABD Under-16 Youth League because of not meeting the initial criteria can still register for the NFABD Youth Cup.
“In the rules and regulations which have been set by the Organising Committee, players who are born after 2003, 2004 and 2005 are allowed to join the competition. However, they need to be filtered and accepted through NFABD as certain things are taken into account such as physical attributes if they are appropriate to compete against players who are more matured,” said Mohammad Shahnon during a media conference at the NFABD House last night.
“There are other criteria which has been set through the development programme set by FIFA. They have set that for a development of each player they must play with the same age environment which is comparable to one another which is 2001, 2002 and 2003 only.”
Mohamad Shahnon also shared that the total number of games which will be played totalled 192 league and cup matches.
“From the development programme, FIFA do not encourage overage players to go down in the leagues below their age group. But they can play in the league above,” added Mohamad Shahnon.
The league manager added that the transfer window will be open after the completion of the first round robin league matches and before the start of the NFABD Youth Cup.
New players who have been registered are eligible to take part for their new teams in the NFABD Youth Cup and also the second round robin matches in the league provided both the teams involving the new and old team agree for the move to take place.
Forms will also be provided which needed to be filled in by the new team to accept and approval required from the old team.
According to Mohd Shahnon, the duration for each match is 30 minutes for each half.
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