Srinagar, Dec 17: The Brazilian football coach Marcos’s, International Sports Academy Trust (ISAT), in collaboration with Jammu Kashmir Football Association, is organizing the third Seven-A-Side winter football tournament in different parts of Valley from Saturday.
 It will be first time that 200 teams from eight districts of Kashmir valley will participate in the winter football tournament making it a truly all Kashmir tournament. 
 More than 2500 young boys from Bandipora, Budgam, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Sopore, Baramulla, Pulwama and Islamabad (Anantnag) will play in the tournament.
 The tournament which has been named Third Winter Football Champions League is being jointly organised by ISAT and JKFA. The event will kick off in Bandipora on Saturday. The event will conclude in march and during these months matches would be held in eight different districts of valley. From each district, around 25 teams will participate in the tournament.
 “Three years back when we (ISAT) organized the first winter football tournament in the valley, our aim was to establish football as a winter sport as it is in other parts of the world. And with this tournament, we made sure that the tournament encompassed the foot scene of the entire valley and not just a few teams from the city,” said director of ISAT, Marcos, a Brazilian Coach working in Kashmir.
 Marcos also said that all the members of the JKFA from various districts came forward and extended their support to make this tournament possible. “It would have been impossible to reach out to so many players and teams across the valley without their support and the hard work of JKFA,” Marcos said.
 The ground facilities and change rooms for the event have been provided by the Jammu Kashmir Sports Council. After the conclusion of the league matches at the district level, the winners and runner ups from each district will come together to play against each other in the final tournament that will be played in Srinagar city.
 The winter tournament is aimed to strengthen the football structure in all the districts and set up football academies to help polish the talent of young Kashmiri football players.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 IST