KARACHI: Abdul Football Club emerged triumphant from a 72-team Leisure Leagues Karachi Intra-City Six-a-Side Championship here at KMC Stadium on Sunday night and qualified for the Leisure Leagues National Championship.
Abdul FC defeated Jigroo FC by 1-0 score in the summit clash of the Leisure Leagues’ biggest Intra-City Championship. Abdullah scored the decisive goal in the all-important match. Abdul FC’s Shahrukh Khattak was declared ‘Best Player of the Tournament’ while Jigroo FC’s Tanveer was adjudged ‘Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament’.
According to Leisure Leagues’ Regional Manager Shahroze Rizvi, it was the biggest city championship with respect to number of teams participating in the event. All of the participating 72 teams were either winner or runner-up in previous 36 leagues held in Karachi. The organizers also improved its record books by organizing 56 matches in a single day.
The 72 teams were been divided into two groups of 36 teams each. The bottom four teams in the groups played one extra match to claim a spot in 32-team knockout phase.
After winning the championship, Abdul FC has secured its berth in the Leisure National Championship, which will also be played in July in Karachi, where More than 70 teams, of as many cities, will play. The national championship will eventually give a national champion, who will win a ‘prized’ ticket to Crete, Greece and get the honor to represent Pakistan in the second edition of Socca World Cup. The International Socca Federation (ISF) marquee event will be held in October.
Leisure Leagues have reached out to over 70 cities and conducted its league with an aim to give a right to every person in Pakistan, who wants to play the beautiful game of football, which is the vision of Mr. Mehmood Trunkwala, Chairman World Group. Leisure Leagues is the initiative of the World Group and Trunkwala Family.
There are almost 20 cities of the country where LLP has hosted more than one league – therefore it will hold intra-city championships in those cities so that a city champion can emerge from there as well, similar to Karachi.
The city champion teams will be divided in groups of four teams each to play group stage matches in their respective regions. Top 20 teams will play in the LLP National Finals in Karachi in July this year.
