PNGFA NATIONAL CUP CHALLENGE BEGINS TODAY

The Papua new Guinea Football Association academy is abuzz with players and officials of teams from all around the country for the 2006 PNGFA National Cup Championship Tournament.

Participating teams have came from Enga (men/women), Goroka (men), NBPOL (men), Chimbu (women), LFA (men/women), Finschafen (men), PMSA (men/women) and Madang (women).

The first men's match of the tournament kick started at 13:15 hours between LFA and Finschafen in a round robin system.

In the opening women's fixtures, Enga defeated Chimbu 1-0 and Madang defeated LFA 2-0.

Most of the teams are residing outside the academy while only two teams stay in the academy. Most of the teams arrived today at the academy and went straight into play their matches according to the draws.

The match commissioner, Mr. John Gringo Mandarip said there will be a total of 25 matches played using the round robin draw system which will allow each team to play each other in both the men's and women's pools.

The top four teams will play the semi finals and the winners will go for the finals while losers play for third and fourth place.

"We expect there to be problems with so many matches scheduled in a short period of time but we're hopeful we can run a tight schedule to allow for this, said Mr. Mandarip.

The match Commissioner said PNGFA is running this tournament with a budget of more than thirty thousand kina.

Coca-Cola Amatil (PNG) Ltd has supported PNGFA by donating 44 soft drinks cartons to be distributed to the 11 participating teams LOC.

The Finals will be play on Sunday after semi-finals on Saturday.