The rural area daCosta Cup football competition will be robed in new garments this season, organisers boasted yesterday.

But the corporate area Manning Cup competition will remain unchanged.

It was revealed at a launch of the ISSA/FLOW schoolboy season at Terra Nova Hotel that a new knockout format at the second round of the daCosta Cup in home-and- away match-ups, will be the signature change.

The new format will employ the away goal rule, plus penalty kicks if that becomes necessary as a tie-breaker.

The much-anticipated schoolboy football season kicks off on Saturday, September 9 at Catherine Hall in St James with daCosta Cup champions Cornwall College tackling Green Pond High, while Corporate Area kings Jamaica College take on St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS).

On Friday, December 1, the season climaxes with the daCosta Cup final and on Saturday, December 2, the Manning Cup will have its finale.

Normally in the daCosta Cup, after navigating their way through the first rounds, schools were placed into second-round groups of four with the winners advancing to the next stage.

Instead, the teams will be seeded and two will be paired together in a home-and-away knockout format to advance to the quarter-finals.

Linvern Wright, ISSA’s chairman of the daCosta Cup, in his overview, explained the new structure.

“The second round will start with two teams playing, but these teams are going to be seeded because we want to ensure that the best teams move forward,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Teams will be seeded based on current form and historical achievements over the years.

The introduction of the European Champions League- style knockout format will see the away goal rule come into effect if the aggregate score is level after both games. The away goal will then be doubled.

But if the winner cannot be determined on the away goal rule, then penalty kicks will be used to determine the winner.

“ISSA is intimately aware of the significance of schoolboy football in Jamaica for revenue, entertainment, excitement and, above all, the sense of identity it has forged over the many years in our schools.

“Certainly, the anticipation it generates and emotions it evokes have not eluded us. We are mindful of the desire of our partners, patrons, players, coaches, schools — all to see this prime-time calendar competition grow in quality, value and resonance. This year is the beginning of our quest to satiate such desires,” said Wright.

There will be 42 teams competing in the Manning Cup with one new team in Cedar Grove Academy from St Catherine making their debut. They are placed in Group G along side Calabar High, Charlie Smith High, Campion College, Eltham High and Jonathan Grant High.

In the daCpsta Cup, 90 schools will compete with Troy High from Trelawny and Carron Hall High from St Mary making their debuts. Hopewell High also make a return after several years.