A local futsal competition event to strengthen friendships, stay healthy and to raise awareness of the sport that is impressively developing in Cambodia was organised by Mobile Service Operation Smart at the weekend.

The second edition of Smart Futsal Cup kicked off on Saturday at Down Town Sports Club in Porsenchey district with 12 teams filled with staff from the company competing for the total prize money of 16 million riel (about $4,000), which will be shared out between the top three teams.

The six-a-side futsal competition, which will be played every Saturday at the same venue, has 12 teams, and they are divided into two groups to fight for the next round. They will all play one match a week until each team has played every other team. The tournament will finish on March 12.

The top two teams from each group will go directly to the semifinal where they will have to fight for the top three places. During opening ceremony and before the matches, organiser of the event Chay Chinith told the reporters that it is to raise the profile of sport in the Kingdom and to encourage more people to play football for their own health.

“After many discussions in the company, we decided to organise the Smart Futsal Cup to encourage the staff and to strengthen their internal friendships as well as to make them closer and closer,” said Chinith. “We want them [the staff] and more people to start playing to stay healthy. In the meantime, we also aim to raise and improve participation in sport in Cambodia and give opportunities to people to showcase their skills and talents.”

In the opening matches on Saturday, White Unicorn made an impressive start when they destroyed Snow Eagle 12-0 in the one-sided match at Down Town Sports Club to temporarily stay on the top of group A.

For two other matches in the same group on the same day, Giant also recorded a good win when they beat NOC 3-0 while Lion edged Fou Nan 2-1.

Meanwhile, in group B, Bong Smart went to the top of the group after they won 6-0 on HQ All Stars while Smart Eagle also grabbed their win to gain 3 points on the opening day when they beat Kouprey 1-0. In another match of the group, Retail United gave a big disappointment to Tiger when they beat the defending champions 4-0.