Fresh from a successful hosting of their Phnom Penh 5s World Cup tournament at the start of this month, Excel Events is looking to launch a brand new futsal competition targeted at the capital’s business community.

The Phnom Penh Premier League is slated to run from September to November at a venue to be announced and is open to companies working in and around Phnom Penh. Teams will be restricted to 12 members, who must all be employees of the company they represent. “The tournament offers companies the chance to compete against each other in a sporting environment,” chief organiser Jimmy Campbell said in a press release.

“It gives companies an opportunity to share in something unique and also offers an opportunity to network and to build lasting relationships in a competitive but friendly [atmosphere].”

Campbell said he hopes to attract between eight and 12 sides. The first teams to register qualify for an early-bird bonus.

Five-a-side games of two 20-minute halves will be played, with each side facing each other once in the preliminary stage. With the results from these games tabulated, teams will be split into two play-off groups – the top half to contest the PP Premier League Trophy and the bottom half vying for the PP Premier Community Trophy.

“There will be awards for the winner, runners-up, fair play award, top goal scorer and player of the tournament,” Campbell added.

“Gold, silver and bronze medals will be presented to the top three teams. All teams will at least be awarded with a participation award.” Local TV channel CTN are to run a three-minute update on it’s weekly sports magazine show with footage, results and the league table after each round of games.

For every week of the competition, a representative of each team will be interviewed for this segment to talk about the team’s performance.

Other promotions include the printing of 300 match-day brochures that will have profiles of all the teams, the creation of a Facebook fan page and weekly updates in the Post.