The 2013 Tiger Street Football tour makes a welcome stop in Cambodia on March 15 and 16 to determine the best five-a-side street football team in the Kingdom.

A 32-team tournament will be held on the first day at a specially-built cage pitch at Wat Botum park, with the winners receiving $3,000, the runners-up $1,500 and $500 going to third place. The top two teams will also receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Grand Finals in Guangzhou, China, in October.

On the second day, the best four sides from the previous day will compete in an international tournament alongside four visiting squads from Holland and Germany, with a $5,000 prize on the line for the winners, and $2,500 and $1,000 will be given to the second and third place outfits.

Organisers told the Post that the two-day event would be broadcast live by Star Sports across region.

Interested teams of a maximum of seven players aged 18 years or older are being encouraged to sign up now for the event via the official website (tigerstreetfootball.com) or by calling Tiger’s marketing chief for Cambodia Nean Samol on 077777928.

Sides will need to qualify for the 32-team tournament via provincial playoffs held in Phnom Penh (Koh Pich Exhibition Centre from February 22-23), Siem Reap (behind Angkor Museum from March 1-2) and Sihanoukville (Old Culture Park March 8-9).

Registration for Phnom Penh teams will close on February 13, Siem Reap teams on February 20 and Sihanoukville teams on February 27.

The Tiger Street Football tour was first launched in 2011 and has grown to over 1,500 participating teams in nations including Thailand, Singapore, China, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Legs in Cambodia, Australia and Mongolia are being introduced this year.

All games will be played over two halves of six minutes each, with a two-minute break in between.

Former Italian national team captain Fabio Cannavaro makes a return to Cambodia since visiting in January last year to watch the games and participate in an exclusive autographing session.

The Tiger Cage Girls will heat up the crowd with their dance moves and prizes will also be handed out.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Derbuc at [email protected]