CEBU, Philippines - The 12th edition of the Thirsty Football Festival kicks off today with over 200 squads participating at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Categories to be contested today include men's open, boys and girls 23, under 9 and under-11 division.
The men's open, under-9 and 11 will be divided into eight groups with the top two teams each group plus some wild cards to move up to the knockout 16.
From the knockout stage, the top eight squads play in the quarterfinals as the winners advance in the semifinals. The last two teams standing plays in the championship round.
The boys 13, 15, girls 23 and mixed 7 will be played tomorrow, while the Sunday games include the boys and girls 18 and women’s open.
The men’s open division has the most number of entries with 32 squads vying for the crown followed with the under-11 with 28 while the mixed 7 has 26 teams. The boys 13 and 18 has 24 squads while the boys 15 has 21 teams.
The women’s open is participated by 12 teams, girls 18 with 10, mixed 7 with seven while the rest of the categories have eight teams each.
Out-of-town teams are also joining the tournament namely Manila-based Loyola Meralco Spark's youth squad, Xavier School of Manila, Ateneo de Davao, San Carlos City, Southshielf, Beacon Academy, Santa Barbara, Iloilo, Escalante, Silliman University, Gardenville of Bacolod, Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Manila Soccer Academy, Saint Scholastica of Bacolod and Tacloban. (FREEMAN)