The annual event, which for the past five years now has been sponsored by Nestle Milo kicked off with Zone 1 which includes qualified schools from the five Northern regions in the nation. Thus, Northern region, Upper West Region, Upper East region, North East region and Savannah region competing to book a place in the National Finals of the league.
The competition was held in the Lawra Municipality of the Upper West region at the Lawra senior high school park
Sixteen teams assembled for the championship from the five regions in the northern belt of the country.
Participating schools from the various regions were Kundungu D/A Primary school, Karni D/A Primary school, Wa Municipal Model Primary school, Kay Robert Memorial Primary school, Bagri Baptist Primary school and Tuopare Primary school
Others includes Anateem Primary school, Songo Primary school, Bazua Primary school, St. Francis Primary school and Tanga Primary, Nyohin Presby Primary school, Savelugu Exp. Primary school and Kaladan E.P Primary school and Iddrisyya Primary school and WaleWale Primary School
The 16 teams looking to book 5 slots for the National championship to be staged at the Paa Joe Park in Kumasi later this year.
Day 1 of the competition saw both players and officials taken through soccer clinic led by Milo U13 icon and former Black stars captain, Stephen Appiah.
The soccer clinic football practice focused on developing skills, ball control, dribbling, attacking, defending, shooting and crossing. The soccer clinic also seeks to inculcate in the player Teamwork, determination, focus, respect, confidence and discipline on the field of play and in life.
The teams had to compete among themselves to get the eventually champions. Teams were grouped based on regions to compete among themselves in a round robin contest. Meaning the top teams from the five regions qualifies for the national championship
After enthrilling and mind blowing round of matches in both groups, the Upper West group became the most competitive group as 3 side emerged table toppers with 12 points each but were seperated using goal difference rule
Kundungu needed a draw in their last game of the group after 4 winning streak against Wa Model Primary who needed nothing less than the 3 maximum points to stand a chance of qualifying. Karni also in that group needed to win their final group game to stand a chance of progressing and also had to score many goals as well
Wa Model defeated Kundungu by alone goal to end Kundungu’s dreams and were hoping for a miracle from the tournament’s worst side Tuopare R/C who before the game had already conceded 10 goals without a reply in the competition against Karni D/A Primary who also had to winning the game with more than 5 goals to qualify
Karni record the tournament’s biggest defeat on Tuopare beating them by 9 unanswered goals to progress from the Upper West group. The results meant, Tuopare were the worst team at the competition, conceding 19 goals without scoring to end bottom on the table
Defending champions, Kaladan Primary school emerged group winners from the Northern region group winning 1 game and drawing the other
Eventual winners of the championship, Tanga Primary school topped the Upper East group with 10 points after 3 wins and a draw in the group
Karni primary school, Kaladan primary school and Tanga primary school joined the already qualified schools Iddrisyya primary school and WaleWale primary school to book their place at the national championship
With more still to play for in terms of the zonal Champion, the 5 qualified teams were paired again with one on a bye in the quarter finals of the competition
WaleWale primary school were paired with defending champions, Kaladan primary school while Tanga primary school had to battle with Iddrisyya primary school with Karni primary school on a bye
Kaladan primary school booked their place in the semis through penalties after drawing with WaleWale primary school while Tanga primary school progressed with a comfortable 2-0 win over Iddrisyya primary school
With 3 teams left in the competition, a coin toss was needed again to determine the sides to play in the one-off semi finals of the tournament
Kaladan Primary School was on bye as Tanga Primary school battled with Karni Primary School for a place in the finals
Tanga primary school prevailed over Karni primary school on penalties to book a mouthwatering final with the defending champions of the zone Kaladan primary school
With cash prize, Nestle products and other Milo school supplies up for grabs , it was a competitive and scintillating final as Kaladan primary school seek to the defend the title while Tanga primary school were also on course to write their own history as far as the championship is concerned
Tanga primary school fought back from a goal down in the first half to pull parity in the second half to send the game to penalties
Defending champions, Kaladan primary school lost 1-2 on penalties as Tanga primary school became the newly crowned winners of Zone 1 of the U13 Milo Champions League 2019
Tanga will be travelling to Kumasi later this year as proud winners of zone 1 dethroning Kaladan primary school
All participating teams at the competition were given 25 milo branded exercise books, 30 wristbands, 6 customized Milo footballs, 2 boxes of Chocolim and 30 pencil cases
Third placed team, Karni primary school went home with cash prize, 8 footballs, 2 boxes of Chocolim, 1 box of Milo, 40 wristbands and 40 pencil cases
Second placed side, Kaladan primary school also had cash prize, 8 footballs, 50 wristbands, 50 books, 50 pencil cases and a box of energy cubes to themselves
Champions of the competition, Tanga primary school went home with cash prize, 10 footballs, 70 wristbands, 70 books, 70 pencil cases, 3 boxes of Chocolim, 2 boxes of Milo and 2 boxes of energy cubes
The 5 qualified teams from the zone were also given set of milo branded Jerseys with socks to be used at the national finals in Kumasi at the Paa Joe Park
Tournament Awards
Fair play – St Francis primary school
Golden Boot – Ali Shaibu ( 7 goals) Karni Primary School
Golden Gloves – Shahadu Mundasil (3 clean sheets) Kaladan Primary School
MVP – Abigiba Obed ( Tanga Primary School)
What’s next?
The championship will move to Zone 2 on Wednesday 29th May 2019 at Sunyani Senior High School where schools from Bono, Ahafo, Ashanti and Bono East Regions will compete for 4 slots for the National Finals.
