Eight young Lankan football players off to MILO Champions Cup in China
View(s):Eight young talented Sri Lankan football players stand the chance to win an opportunity of a lifetime; to compete in the first ever MILO Champions Football World cup which will be held in China. MILO hopes to achieve this massive feat by once again teaming up with FC Barcelona.
Milo’s aim is to nourish the ambitions of kids through their participation in sports, and encourage well rounded personalities. FC Barcelona prides itself on five principal values, namely: ‘Humility’, ‘Effort’, ‘Ambition’, ‘Respect’, and ‘Teamwork’. Building on these shared values, Milo and FC Barcelona formed a four-year global partnership to promote healthier lifestyles and the importance of physical activity to young people.
MILO and Schools Association to launch ‘Champions Cup’
Together, they are developing a series of sports programmes to encourage more young people to take part in sports. Committed to developing school sports in Sri Lanka for more than three decades, Milo is leveraging this global agreement to help develop football in Sri Lanka as well as develop and inspire young football stars through its ‘MILO Champions Cup’.
‘The MILO Champions Cup’ will kick-off in Sri Lanka with an all-island U-12 Football Tournament, executed by the Sri Lanka Schools’ Football Association under the patronage of the Ministry of Education. The tournament will be open to boys and girls born in 2008 and 2009. 265 girls’ teams and 822 boys’ teams will take part in the tournament, bringing the total number of participants to 13,044 children.
Based on the skills and values demonstrated at the tournament, the best children will be shortlisted to attend a selection camp, where an expert panel of coaches will select the most deserving eight players to represent the MILO Sri Lanka Football team.
The selected eight players will represent Sri Lanka in the Milo Champions Cup in China to compete with countries across the world such as Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Pakistan, Colombia, Chille, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago. A playing side in the tournament will comprise of eight players, in a series of 5-a-side matches with a minimum of one female player on each team with each match lasting for two halves of 10 minutes. The Football event will go for nine days, which will also include a coaching camp run by FC Barcelona – the FC Barcelona Barca Academy (Soccer School).
Throughout the campaign Milo will also put heavy focus on recognising good team values among the young players. To demonstrate the importance of team spirit, MILO together with FC Barcelona will carry out this new initiative under the theme #TEAMMAKESME, to encourage kids around the world to work as a team.
Fabrice Cavallin, Nestlé Lanka Managing Director, handing over the Milo Football Champions Trophy to Sunil Jayaweera, Special Consultant Sports, from the Ministry of Education at the launch. Looking on from left to right are Mohamed Ali, Category Marketing Manager – Milo at Nestlé; Bandula Egodage, Vice-President - Corporate Affairs & Communications at Nestlé; Hemantha Abeykoon, President – Sri Lanka Schools Football Association; Athula Wijeyawardane, Deputy Director – Physical Education and Sports at the Ministry of Education; Nalaka Dissanayake, Secretary – Sri Lanka Schools Football Association.
In a bid to select eight the top eight players who will earn the slots to fly to China to take part in the FC Barcelona training camp, Milo announced that it will partner with Sri Lanka Schools Football Association to launch an All-Island Under-12 Tournament with the participation of 13,000 children from across the island. There will be 11 segments taking place from early March to early April before the finals scheduled for May 4 and 5 in Matara
Match schedule:
| Province | Venue | Date of Tournament |
| Northern Province | St. Henris School Ground, Jaffna | March 5 and 6 |
| North Central Province | Prison Grounds, Anuradhapura | March 8 and 9 |
| North Western Province | Senanayake M. M. V. Ground, Chilaw | March 11 and 12 |
| Central Province | Peradeniya Campus ground, Kandy | March 14 and 15 |
| Eastern Province | Kinniya Public Ground, Trincomalee | March 16 and 17 |
| Uva Province | Vincent Dias Ground, Badulla | March 20 and 21 |
| Sabaragamuwa Province | Public Grounds, Rathnapura | March 23 and 24 |
| Western Province- Gampaha | Sri Bodhi Ground, Gampaha | March 26 and 27 |
| Western Province- Colombo | Borella Campbell Ground, Colombo | March 29 and 30 |
| Western Province- Kalutara | Vernan Fernando Ground- Kalutara | April 1 and 2 |
| Southern Province | Football Federation Ground, Matara | April 4 and 5 |
| The final round matches of this tournament will be held at Matara District football Federation on May 4 and 5 | ||