Beach football: Real Maldives champions |19 November 2013

Real Maldives are the champions of the inaugural beach football league which ended last Saturday in confusion.

The confusion was who were to be declared the winners after Real Maldives and One Stone finished locked on 30 points.

Some fans and players thought the winners should be decided on the head-to head rule, while others thought it should be on goal difference.

Real Maldives won their last match against MLUH on a 5-3 score, while One Stone got 20 goals from former Seychelles striker Alpha Baldé in a 41-3 victory against Maia.

Both Real Maldives and One Stone celebrated winning the title when it is the former’s name which will be inscribed first on the winners’ list.

This is because according to the beach football rules and regulations set by the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF), in case equality of points between two or more teams, places of teams shall be determined according to:

1.    Larger quantity of points collected in matches between these teams (head-to-head).

In this case, One Stone won the first leg fixture 10-9 and Real Maldives took the second on a 9-7 score. This means they both collected three points in matches between them (head-to-head).

Therefore the second rule comes into play and this is

2.    Difference of goals scored between these teams.
 
Real Maldives have scored 18 in the two games between them and One Stone 17. The winners were thus decided on the second rule, meaning Real Maldives are the inaugural champions of the beach football league.

A spokesman for the SFF said the local football body is annoyed with such incidents which kind of tarnish their reputation, especially when all teams have a copy of the regulations and don’t bother to read those carefully.