Milo Schools’ Football tournament returns on February 18

24 School football teams will converge on the Ministry of Education (MoE) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) grounds in a little under two weeks, when the 10th edition of the Milo Schools’ Football tournament commences.
A total of 52 teams from across the country have expressed interest in the competition, but this number would eventually be whittled down. Massy, under their Nestle Milo brand, have injected a whopping $4 million into this year’s tournament.
With Region One’s Santa Rosa Secondary being the defending champions, Petra Organization Co-Director Troy Mendonca revealed, efforts are underway to accommodate more out-of-town teams, given Santa Rosa’s success.
“As an organization, we would’ve taken the initiative to invite the Santa Rosa team last year from Region 1, and I think it (added) so much value to the tournament,” Mendonca highlighted.

He added, “This year, we’re hoping to invite other teams from different regions. Of course, we’re trying to engage the Regional Education Officers in terms of assisting us to have these teams participate in the tournament. As you would notice, the budget might not (facilitate) us to have all those teams, but we’re hoping (that) with the relationship we built over the years…we are able to have more teams from out of town participate in the tournament this year.”
In other developments regarding this tournament, Mendonca divulged, “We anticipate a keenly contested competition, and I know most of these teams will be eyeing up other tournaments to come during the year. As part of our enhancement to capacity building, we will continue to have livestream in the semifinals and the finals, and we’re hoping to have the finals aired on Sportsmax.”

The competition will commence in the round-robin format, with teams being placed in 6 groups of four. Thereafter, the top two teams from each group and the best four third place teams would advance to the round of 16.
On the sponsor’s behalf, Nestle Senior Business Manager Teisha Milner highlighted the benefit of sport, and expressed the company’s commitment to providing such opportunities.
“This is an opportunity that youths today look forward to, and we’re happy to bring to them again this year. Today, sports are essential to students’ overall growth and development, and we recognize the need for sports in our schools and are committed in supporting events that afford each student the opportunity to engage and participate in sporting activities,” Milner related.
Meanwhile, GFF Vice-President Dion Inniss, after heaping praise on both organizer and sponsor, emphasized the need for multi-stakeholder involvement in the sport’s development. Inniss shared, “When you think about football, I’ve always said we cannot advance without our multi-stakeholder engagement. For instance, we have our friends in the private sector, we have the media, we have Government involvement. So, for us to succeed, we need multistakeholder engagement. We have the Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Education, Regional Ministries; everyone has to come on board if we’re really serious about taking football to another level.”
The teams will be vying for a top prize of $300,000, to be given in kind for a school project; while second, third and fourth place will receive $200,000, $150,000 and $75,000 for a similar purpose.