Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: The third edition of the Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman Cup Inter-District Football tournament kicks off this weekend.
There will be 10 matches to be played at various venues statewide where defending champions Tawau will begin their title defence up against Semporna in a Group 1 challenge at the Tawau Sports Complex on Saturday.
In the same group, Kunak will play host to Lahad Datu at the Kunak town field on Sunday.
In the Group 2 challenge, Kinabatangan will be home to Sandakan. The match will be played at the Kinabatangan field while Tongod will take on Ranau at the Kg Semudoh field in a Group 3 tie.
The other matches will see Kota Marudu takes on Kudat in a Group 4 fixture while Tuaran will face off with Kota Belud at the IPG Kent field in Tuaran in a Group 5 battle.
Penampang will also be in action where they will take on Papar in a Group 6 encounter, which will be played at the Penampang Stadium.
Beaufort will host Kuala Penyu at the Beaufort Sports Complex field in a Group 7 tie.
Two matches will be played involving Group 8.
On Saturday, Group 8's matches will see Keningau take on Tambunan at the Keningau Sports Complex while on Sunday Nabawan will take on Tenom at SKM Nabawan field.
"All group stages will be played home and away until the quarterfinals while the semi-finals and final will be played in Kota Kinabalu," said Sabah FA assistant secretary general Mohd Farid Abdullah yesterday.
"After the opening week, the Musa Cup tournament will take a break to give way for the Sabah Games qualifying tournament, which will be held from April 14 to 17.
It would resume on April 25.
He added that after the completion of the group stage, which is expected to be on the third week of May, the competition will take about a two-month break and would only resume with the first leg of quarterfinals on August 8 while the return leg on August 15.
The semifinals will be on August 21 and the third placing playoff and final on August 23 at the Likas Stadium.
The annual tournament organised by the Sabah FA is offering RM25,000 prize money plus trophy for the champion while the runners up would pocket RM12,500. Third place team would receive RM4,500 and RM3,500 for fourth place.
For more details contact Farid at 019-8620859.
