A day-long soccer tournament is scheduled to be held on June 17th this year at the Leaders Club, Kinondoni in Dar es Salaam.
Abdallah Chapa, the iP Sports Secretary told the ‘Daily News on Saturday’ in Dar es Salaam that preparations to stage the event were on top gear.
He said that, the tournament will involve 32 teams and will be played in the same format as World Cup. “It is going to be a tournament that involve national teams that have qualified for the World Cup kicking off in Russia next month,” Chapa said.
He added that, will be eight groups -- A, B, C, D, E, F, G and Group H with four teams each. The 32 teams that qualified for Russia 2018 World Cup to be staged from June 14 include hosts Russia, Portugal, France, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Egypt, Morocco and Peru.
Others are Croatia, Uruguay, Iran, Denmark, Nigeria, Brazil, defending champions Germany, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Panama, Senegal, Costa Rica, Mexico, Tunisia, Colombia, Serbia, South Korea, England and Japan.
However, Chapa said that, each participant wishing to take part in the game will be required to select his/her World Cup favourite team.
He said that, registration fee will depend on team rankings with highly ranked teams pay more than lower ranked nations. Chapa said that, 60 per cent of participation fee will go to winners of the tournament with more other awards to be presented.
He invited players to come forward and register for the same and make the tournament a success. In April this year, the club successful organised the monthly video game tournament at the same ground. The tournament saw Tarik Ismail (Barcelona) crowned champion after beating Elisha George of Manchester United 4-3 after extra time.
The battled to a 3-3 draw in normal time.