Copa Coca-Cola roars into life

Under-16 football tournament finals.
The two-day tournament kicks off today and will end tomorrow with 12 schools fighting for honours. Dewure High and Mwenezi Secondary School will represent Masvingo with the former qualifying for the finals by virtue of being defending champions.

They beat Dangamvura from Manicaland 2-1 in last year’s finals. Mashonaland East will also field two teams – Marondera High and Kandava Secondary School.
The rest of the provinces will field a team each – Prince Edward School (Harare), Gifford High School (Bulawayo), Gaza High (Manicaland), Mosi-oa-Tunya (Matabeleland North), Vimbai (Mashonaland West), Howard (Mashonaland Central), Manunure (Midlands) and Mzingwane (Matabeleland South).

The schools have been divided into four groups of three and the top team in each group will progress to the finals. Coca-Cola brand manager, Mona Karingi, said they were looking forward to see the next best football talent in this country.

“The expectations are quite high that we will discover more stars from different corners of the country.
“According to reports from the provinces the teams are prepared for the competition and they all want to win the title,” said Karingi. The winners in the tournament will get US$6 000 and the runners-up will pocket US$4 000 while third and fourth-placed teams will walk away with US$3 000 and $2 000 respectively.

The remaining eight teams will pocket US$1 000 each.
The teams were scheduled to be in Marondera by yesterday afternoon.

Group A: Dewure, Mosi-oa-Tunya, Prince Edward.
Group B: Marondera High, Mzingwane, Manunure.
Group C: Mwenezi, Vimbai, Howard.
Group D: Kandava, Gifford, Gaza.