Lalitpur, May 11:

The selection tournament for the Coca Cola Cup Inter-school National Football is beginning here from Monday.

Apart from Central Region’s Kathmandu, the regional selection tournaments will be held in Biratnagar (Eastern Region), Pokhara (Western) and Nepalgunj (Mid and Far Western), said Lalit Krishna Shrestha, Vice President of ANFA at a press meet.

In all, 384 schools — 39 in Pokhara, 169 in Biratnagar, 16 in Nepalgunj and 160 in Kathmandu — are taking part in the tournaments. In all, 10 teams — top two each from Eastern and Western Regions, one team from Mid and Far Western Region and top five teams from central Region — will compete in the national tournament to be held in Kathmandu.

The winner of the national tournament will receive Rs 200,000, while the runner up will get Rs 100,000. The third and fourth place teams will be awarded with Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively. All the expenses of the teams in the national tournament will be borne by the ANFA.

Pranaya Sthapit, Country Manager of Bottler’s Nepal, said the sponsors were inspired by the success of the previous edition to expand the tournament to national level. “The tournament was a huge success in Kathmandu last year and that encouraged us to go nationwide this year,” said Sthapit.

Bottler’s Nepal also increased the sponsorship amount to Rs 1.3 million from last year’s Rs 800,000. ANFA Vice Presidents Kumar Thapa and Karma Tsering Sherpa were also present on the occasion.