Faisalabad-Sahiwal Zone crowned U16 champions [The News]

KARACHI: Faisalabad-Sahiwal Zone were crowned champions when they defeated Sindh 2-0 in the final of National Under-16 Football Championship 2015 at Multan on Monday.

Akber Ali put the winners ahead in the 40th minute. Saif-ur-Rehman doubled their lead in the 61st minute through a brilliant field effort.

As many as nine teams participated in the event which had started on June 25 at the Sports Complex Ground.

The winners were handed over a purse of Rs100,000, trophy and gold medals.

The runners-up went away with Rs75,000, trophy and silver medals.

Karachi Greens, who ended third, received Rs50,000, trophy and bronze medals.

Sindh got fair-play trophy and Rs20,000.

Similarly, Rs10,000 each was handed over to Sindh’s Saeed Babar (best player), Jasim Nawaz (Karachi Greens, leading scorer) and Abdul Wahab (Karachi Greens, best goalie).

Khurram Shehzad claimed the best referee’s award of Rs15,000, while Shafa’at Habib was given the best assistant referee’s award of Rs10,000.

Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) president Faisal Saleh Hayat distributed the prizes.

Also present were Punjab Football Association’s (PFA) president Naved Haider, MNA Amir Dogar and Regional Head Chenone Multan Adnan Qureshi, President DFA Multan Javed Qureshi and PFF Director Development and Competitions Pervez Saeed Mir.

Speaking on the occasion, Faisal said PFF had left no stone unturned for the development of football in Pakistan.

He lauded the efforts of the organisers for holding the event in a befitting manner. “The arrangements by DFA Multan have been good throughout the tournament,” Faisal said.

Naved said the Technical Study Group (TSG) of PFF had shortlisted 45 players for the national camp. Pakistan will feature in the AFC Under-16 Championship qualifiers in the next few months.