18 State teams taking part
Published on: Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The second edition of the Liga Bolasepak Rakyat (Rakyat Football League) managed by Liga Bola Sepak Rakyat (LBR) Sdn Bhd – Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) and Football Association Malaysia (FAM) will see a total of 18 teams from the State taking part in the Borneo Zone One group stage starting on Oct 1.The decision to increase the number from eight teams last year according to Sabah Football Association Deputy President Datuk Lawrence Gimbang on Tuesday was a wise move. " I think it is a very good idea to have 16 teams this year as it gives more opportunities to the players in the districts to showcase their talents and also we received the offer from LBR to increase the numbers as well ."
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All the top eight teams who qualified for the final rounds of the Datuk Seri Musa Cup this year will be featured in the competition together with the teams that came second in the preliminary rounds with the exception of Semporna whose place will be taken by Kota Kinabalu.They will be divided into four groups on a home and away format, and the top four will play in a play off to decide the two winners who will represent the zone for the grand finals featuring 14 other teams.Azaman Ibrahim, CEO of LBR said the competition will again be opened to all under 28-year-old in the country who are not registered with any of the Malaysian League teams, President Cup squad or Youth squad this season.However, the number of under-21 players this year will also be increased from five last year to 10 and at least one must be featured in any matches.
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Prize money is the same as last year with the champion getting RM100,000 cash and the runner-up RM75,000. The losing semi-finalist will each get RM25,000 and 15,000 each for the quarterfinalists .
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"Each of the participating team apart from the RM10,000 subsidies given, will also be given two sets of jerseys and shirts for the officials," he added.Sabah were represented by Papar and Kota Belud last year and the eventual champion was Kuching and Padang Besar came second.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Cup champion Labuan are drawn in group two with Penampang, Papar, Sipitang. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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