Himalayan News Service

Lalitpur, January 15

All Nepal Football Association and Kathmandu Metropolis are jointly organising the first Birendra Memorial Inter-Municipality football tournament from January 17.

The tournament is divided into two parts — regional and central. Regional tournament will be held in Ilam (Eastern Region), Hetauda (Central Region), Nepalgunj (Mid and Far Western Regions) from Sunday, said ANFA at a press conference here today.

The regional tournament in Pokhara was organised from January 4-13, in which Butwal, Pokhara and Waling came first, second and third respectively. In all, 11 municipality teams took part in the tournament.

In all, 49 out of 58 municipalities, including 12 in Eastern, 19 in Central, 8 in Mid and Far Western Region, will take part in the tournament.

From the regional tournament, 14 teams — four semi-finalists from Eastern, five from Central (four semi-finalists and one quarter-finalist which will score the highest number of goals in quarters), three from Western Region (Butwal, Pokhara and Waling), and two from Mid and Far Western regions — will qualify for the central level tournament to be held in Kathmandu from February 1.

The winner of the central tournament will be richer by Rs 5,00,000 along with shield, medals and certificates.

The runners-up will get a purse of Rs 2,00,000, whereas third-place holders will get Rs 1,25,000. The fourth-placed team will be given Rs 75,000 and the best player and the highest scorer of the tournament will receive Rs 50,000 each. The prize money is sponsored by Kathmandu Metropolis, while ANFA and participating municipalities will take care of the other expenses.

Participating municipalities in Hetauda (Central): Hetauda, Panauti, Bidur, Janakpur, Banepa, Kaliaya, Dhulikhel, Malangwa, Kathmandu, Birgunj, Bhaktapur, Jaleshwor, Bhimeshwor, Ratna Nagar, Gaur, Madhyapur, Bharatpur, Kirtipur, Lalitpur. Ilam (Eastern): Itahari, Ilam, Damak, Triyuga, Siraha, Biratnagar, Mechi, Rajbiraj, Dhankuta, Bhadrapur, Lahan, Dharan. Nepalgunj (Mid and Far Western): Nepalgunj, Gulariya, Tribhuvan Nagar, Dhangadi, Mahendra Nagar, Birendra Nagar, Tikapur, Tulsipur.