BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 26, 2018– With limited funding from FIFA, the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) is hosting a National U-13 Elite Championship 2018 this weekend at the FFB Stadium in Belmopan, featuring U-13 selections from all the football “districts” in the country. The original idea was for a full length country-wide youth tournament over a few months at least, but FFB Vice President Marlon Kuylen revealed this evening that, even this abbreviated tournament is costing upwards of $40,000.00 due to the transportation and hosting costs of the teams over the three days of the tournament, which will run from tomorrow, Friday, until Sunday.
The 10 teams are divided into two groups of 5 teams each; and each group will play a single round-robin over two days, Friday and Saturday, with 2 games playing simultaneously on different fields. The top 2 teams from each group then go on to the semifinals on Saturday afternoon; and the third place game and the championship final take place on Sunday.
Group A teams are: Belize, Stann Creek, San Pedro, Benque and Belmopan.
Group B teams are: Independence, Toledo, Cayo, Orange Walk and Corozal.
If Belizeans are dreaming about one day qualifying to the World Cup, this is where it begins for 2026. (We’re already too late to realistically make it for 2022.)
Preliminary Round
Friday, July 27
1:00 p.m. – (A) Belize vs Stann Creek; (B) Independence vs Toledo
2:00 p.m. – (A) San Pedro vs Benque; (B) Cayo vs Orange Walk
3:00 p.m. – (A) Belmopan vs Belize; (B) Corozal vs Independence
4:00 p.m. – (A) Benque vs Stann Creek; (B) Orange Walk vs Toledo
5:00 p.m. – (A) San Pedro vs Belmopan; (B) Cayo vs Corozal
Saturday, July 28
9:00 a.m. – (A) Belize vs San Pedro; (B) Independence vs Cayo
10:00 a.m. – (A) Belmopan vs Benque; (B) Corozal vs Orange Walk
11:00 a.m. – (A) Stann Creek vs San Pedro; (B) Toledo vs Cayo
1:00 p.m. – (A) Benque vs Belize; (B) Orange Walk vs Independence
2:00 p.m. – (A) Stann Creek vs Belmopan; (B) Toledo vs Corozal
Semifinal Round
4:00 p.m. – (Game 1) Group A #1 vs Group B #2
5:00 p.m. – (Game 2) Group A #2 vs Group B #1
Championship Round
Sunday, July 29
9:00 a.m. – Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2
10:00 a.m. – Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2