22 sides for Southern Besta Cup

A TOTAL of 22 teams will vie for the regional title at the Southern Besta Cup at the Bisini Soccer Ground in Port Moresby from today.
Preparations have been going well and all teams have arrived in the city for the four-day tournament.
The participating teams are NCDPSSA Black, NCDPSSA Gold, EPC One, EPC Two, PMSA One, PMSA Two, Koupa One, Koupa Two, Rigo Coast One (Kamali/Kalo), Rigo Inland One (Sivitatana), Rigo Inland Two (Kareko), Rigo Coast Two (Karawa), Popondetta Urban, Beagle Bay, Nawone, Laloki Vanapa, Higaturu, School Football Association, PMSA women, NCDPSSA Women, EPC Women and Koupa women.
Morea Vavine, the president of hosts Koupa Soccer Association, said the tournament had lured interest from teams in Rigo, Northern (Popondetta and Higaturu) and Western (Kiunga). Vavine said there were 18 men’s and four women’s teams.
He said men’s division would be divided into four pools, while the women’s category would play a round-robin format.
“The men’s division will have the top-two teams from each pool qualify for the semifinals on Sunday morning and the grand final in the afternoon,” Vavine said.
Competition manager Simon Koima urged teams to observe tournament rules.
“Each team are allowed to have only three National Soccer League players from the 2018-2019 season on their master list,” he said.
Koima said for substitutes, only five from the 18 players on the starting list were allowed to take the field in any game.
Day one fixtures: Bisini One – PMSA One v Popondetta Urban (8am), NCDPSSA Black v Beagle Bay (9.30am), opening ceremony (11am), Koupa women v NCDPSSA women (12pm), Koupa 2 v Rigo Coast One Kamali/Kalo (1.30pm), SFA v Rigo Coast Two Karawa (3pm), Laloki Vanapa v PMSA One (4.30pm); Bisini Two – NCDPSSA Gold v Rigo Inland One Sivitatana (8am), EPC Two v Koupa One (9.30am), opening ceremony (11am), EPC women v PMSA women (12pm), EPC One v PMSA Two (1.30pm), Higaturu v Rigo Inland Two Kareko (3pm), Nawone vs NCDPSSA Black (4.30pm).