New format for this year’s Sibu League

SIBU: The 2014 Sibu Football League will take on a different format this year with teams divided into Division I and Division II. Sibu Footbal l Associat ion secretary Abdul Hajis Abdullah said Division I would comprise the top eight winning teams in the last season. They include Nazario FC, Nafas Mukah FC, V8 FC, Kastam, TZ FC, Rimba Hijau, Exodust FC and Rascom. He said Division I I would comprise the last four teams of the last season, namely DD FC, Polis, Miskal FC and Singgah Selalu and some of the new teams. “We are waiting for these new teams to send in their entries,” he said. Hajis said the idea behind the new format was to tap talented players from Division I and also to encourage more teams to take part. He said Sibu FA was serious in getting good players from Division I as they were the players who would eventually be picked to represent Sibu in the Sarawak Cup to be held in Sarikei later this year. “We want to give the rest of the divisions in the state a taste of our force and we do not want to be always on the losing side as far as Sarawak Cup is concerned,” he added. Entry fee for Division I category is RM800 while it is RM600 for Division II category. Hajis reminded all team managers for Division I to get ready the name lists of their players and submit it to Sibu FA before Jan 31. He said this was to avoid any clash of names when Sibu FA received the final name lists. For Division II teams, he said they may submit their name lists by the end of February. Matches will be played at Stadium Tun Zaidi and Prison Field on Saturday and Sunday. “The Sibu League is expected to be held sometime in March,” he added. In between, Hajis said Sibu FA Cup would also be conducted following the casting of lots among the teams. He said Sibu FA Cup would be played on a single knock-out basis and the teams that remained unbeaten would take the title. Those interested to join the competition should contact Hajis at 012-8559639.