Photo: Hopkins Ibayani – Champion

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Dec. 8, 2022

After completing a single round-robin qualifying phase followed by knockout semifinals, the Travel Belize Beach Soccer Cup 2022 championship finals were held this past Saturday, December 3, at the same venue where the tournament started back on October 8 with 6 teams participating. The tournament was sponsored by the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) in collaboration with the Belize Tourism Board (BTB).

In the third place game starting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday in Hopkins, Christ Warriors Seine Bight cruised to an 8-2 victory over Corozal FC with Jaheim Mena netting 5 goals for the winners (1’, 2’, 8’, 27’ & 32’). Also scoring for the winners were Valeak Valerio (9’ & 20’) and Kenyon Martinez (14’); while Corozal FC got a goal each from Jervis Ara (10’) and Angel Gutierrez (30).

The championship match which followed was a tight contest to the end, with the home team Hopkins Ibayani prevailing, 1-nil, over Griga United, the only goal of the game coming from Isanie Valentine (14’).

Trophies and team cash prizes ($1,500 to the champion, and $1,000 to the sub-champion) were issued immediately afterwards.

The AWARDEES list included: Most Valuable Player – Isanie Valentine (Hopkins Ibayani); Best Goalkeeper – Lincoln Lopez (Hopkins Ibayani); Best Coach – Franz Nunez (Hopkins Ibayani); Top Scorers – Evan Mariano (Griga United) & Jaheim Mena (Christ Warriors Seine Bight); 4th Place – Corozal FC; 3rd Place – Christ Warriors Seine Bight FC; Sub-Champion – Griga United; Champion – Hopkins Ibayani.