BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 12, 2017–The Football Federation of Belize’s (FFB) inaugural National Over-40 Football Tournament 2017 concluded on Saturday night, October 7, with its Finals Game 2 at the San Pedro Ambergris Stadium, where home standing San Pedro Veterans prevailed in overtime, 2-1, over Mango Creek Veterans. Game 1 of the Finals the previous week was a 1-1 draw in Independence, and game 2 in San Pedro also ended 1-1 in regulation, after Wilmer Garcia (8’) gave Mango Creek the early lead, and Edgar Lima (13’) equalized shortly after. It was in the last minute of overtime that San Pedro got the game winner from Abdon Sanchez (120’) to become the first Belize National Over-40 Football Champions.
Team prizes for the tournament included: San Pedro Veterans – 1st place trophy + $2,000.00; Mango Creek Veterans – 2nd place trophy + $1,000.00; Benque Veterans – 3rd place trophy + $500.00; and 4th place Kulture Yabra Veterans – $250.00.
Individual Awards were: Most Goals (23) – Kevin Rowland (Kulture Yabra Veterans); Best Goalkeeper – Aldon Augustine (San Pedro Veterans); Best Defender – Wilmer Garcia (Mango Creek Veterans); Best Midfielder – Robert Muschamp (Mango Creek Veterans); and MVP – Orlando Pinelo (San Pedro Veterans).
Chairman of the National Over-40 Tournament Committee, Peter Alvarez said he would like to extend Special Thanks to Social Security Board, Football Federation of Belize, the eight veteran teams that participated in the tournament, fans who showed support for their teams, and the entire Belize Over-40 Committee.