MDFA Trophy 2019 set to begin October 1

Morung Express News
Mokokchung | September 29 

Football has always been the most popular sport in Mokokchung and the MDFA Trophy is undoubtedly the biggest sporting event in the district. 

The Mokokchung District Football Association (MDFA) has over the years been promoting the beautiful game in Mokokchung ever since its inception in the year 1992.

This year, the MDFA tourney is scheduled to begin from October 1 where 18 teams from across the district will be vying to lift the coveted trophy on the 26th of October. Some of the top football players in Nagaland will also feature in the tournament representing the various clubs. The total prize money for the tournament has been enhanced to a record Rs.3.80 lakhs this year, where the winning team will walk away with Rs.2 lakhs. MDFA in order to promote local talents is following the new rule that restricts the participating clubs from playing more than four non-indigenous players in the team and only two are allowed in the substitution bench, limiting the total of non-inhabitants in each team to 6 players only.

Defending champions Intermingle Club are pre-tournament favourites to lift the trophy for the second successive time this year. They have a strong line-up of stalwarts including Ratobe Poireng, the 23-year old Naga player who recently made news headlines after joining Lilla Torg FF in Sweden, etching his name in the history books as the first Naga football player to sign for a European club. However, 2017 champions and one of last year’s finalists Zonipang SA are strong title contenders. With the 23-year old Nigerian national Stephen Mayen Reech in their line-up, Zonipang will look to reclaim the title they lost to Intermingle last year. Pool D is regarded as the “group of death” where Telongjem FC, the two SSS teams and FC Young Boys along with the unpredictable Sungkomen FC will battle it out to move on to the knock-out stages. Supervene United and Unicorn FC are the only two debutants in the MDFA tournament this year.

The opening ceremony of the MDFA Trophy 2019 will be held on October 1, Tuesday at Imkongmeren Sports Complex with V. Kashiho Sangtam, Nagaland minister for Soil & Water Conservation and Geology & Mining as chief patron. This will be followed by the kick off of the first match of the tournament between debutants Supervene United and defending champions Intermingle Club.