By FRANCIS XAVIER
KOTA KINABALU: The show begins for eight teams that will vie for top honours in the grand finals of the Safa Cup football tournament 2018 that kicks off here today.
Four matches will be played involving the two-group annual tournament organised by the Sabah Football Association (Safa).
Sipitang, Keningau, Kinabatangan and Kuala Penyu, who have been drawn in Group A, will be the first taste action in the morning fixtures while the matches involving Group B are made up of Kota Kinabalu, Kota Belud, Kota Marudu and Tawau and will be played in the afternoon.
Two venues – Likas Stadium and Penampang Stadium – will be used during the week-long competition.
Today, Keningau, who won the first edition of the tournament in 2013, then known as the Chief Minister’s Cup Inter-District Football Tournament before it was renamed as Safa Cup this year, will face off with Sipitang at the Likas Stadium while Kinabatangan and debutante Kuala Penyu will square off at the Penampang Stadium.
Both matches will kick off at 7.30am.
Group B, dubbed Group of Death, will see defending champs Kota Kinabalu taking on Kota Belud at the Likas Stadium while Kota Marudu will take on 2014 winner Tawau at Penampang Stadium.
Both the matches will start at 3.30pm.
“Everything is all set for the grand finals. In term of technical, venues and officials, I guess, we are ready. And we hope the weather will be kind to us,” said organising secretary Muhimian Moksin when contacted yesterday.
For the record, the group stages of the tournament will be played round robin where the top two teams in each group will make it into a crossover semi-final that has been scheduled for Nov 23.
The final will be played at the Likas Stadium the following day (Nov 24).
