The Yardie Sports Challenge Cup makes a return to the pre-season football calendar after a five-year absence with eight teams and four days of action starting August 7 at The UWI Mona Bowl.

Reigning Manning Cup champions Kingston College (KC) and runners up St Catherine High are amongst the entrants, including Munro College, Charlie Smith, Calabar High, Manchester High, York Castle High, and Dinthill Technical High.

The tournament, the brainchild of Dwayne Richards, was first contested in 2019 and won by KC, but went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the launch which was held at the Summit Business Centre in New Kingston on Wednesday, Richards reiterated the importance of this pre-season tournament, especially with ISSA’s change in format, which will reduce playing time for the lesser teams, for the upcoming Manning Cup season.

“We have a product that people are interested in and its good preparation for the boys,” Richards says. “When I invited the teams, it was a quick yes and it is important that the boys get to play and the coaches get to look at different tactics and all.”

KC are drawn in Group A with former Manning Cup champion Charlie Smith, York Castle, and Manchester High, while Group B consists of St Catherine, Dinthill Technical, Calabar High, and Munro College.

“These teams that are playing in the tournament are teams that are vying for titles,” Richards says. “So, it’s going to be competitive. It’s going to be very good. It’s going to be something to look forward to.”

Vassell Reynolds, who led KC to the Manning Cup title last season, welcomed the pre-season tournament as the team prepares to defend the Manning Cup crown.

“When you can have back-to-back games, depending on the strength of your team, depending on your depth of your team, you can use it to test your depth and to see how quickly they recover from playing the games over a short period of time,” Reynolds says.

St Catherine High Head Coach Anthony Patrick says the Yardie Cup will provide invaluable experience and practice for his team.

“When I look at the teams that are going to take part, it’s going to be a challenging one,” Patrick says. “You know we have a couple more tournaments that we’ll take part in, but we are looking forward to this year’s Yardie Sports Cup. This is the second time for us and we are grateful that we are going to be a part of it.”

The eight teams will be divided into two groups and play each other once in a round robin format over the first two days of the tournament. The matches will last for 60 minutes each with a 10-minute half-time break.

At the end of the first round, the teams will be ranked from one to eight based on points, goal difference, and head-to-head where necessary and then contest a quarter-final round on Saturday.

The teams will face off based on their rankings, with the number one seed facing the number eight seed, the number two seed facing the number seven seed, and so on.

The alumni teams of the participating schools are also invited to participate in the tournament, and they will join at the quarter-final round on the Saturday, where they will be ranked similarly to their under-19 teams.

The teams that win on Saturday will advance to the semi-finals on Sunday, where they will vie for a spot in the respective finals which will also be contested on Sunday.

Along with the championship trophies, there will be individual awards for the tournament MVP, Best Defender, Best Midfielder, Best Goalkeeper, and Leading Goal Scorer.