Football - Foresters, La Passe to kick off league season |09 February 2017

The 2016 first division league will officially begin on Thursday March 2, at Stad Linite, where Foresters will take on La Passe.

Competitive football action will be resuming this weekend as Côte d’Or take on Ethiopian side, St Georges, in a match for the African Football Confederation (Caf) Champion’s League and will be followed by the return leg of St Michel’s clash with Sudan’s Al-Hilal SC the weekend after.

Those two matches will be followed by the traditional President’s match between Côte d’Or and St Michel on February 25.

The league championship will kick off with the match between Foresters and La Passe, while Côte d’Or will begin their title defence on home soil against The Lions on Friday March 3. Newcomers to the division Red Star Defence Forces will begin their division one adventure with a tough clash against St Louis.

Other matches that will take place during the first weekend of the league season include St Michel taking on Revengers, Anse Reunion against Northern Dynamo and LightStars taking on St John Bosco.

The 2016 season promises to be another competitive year in football, with all sides having bolstered their squad during the break, with perhaps the biggest move being that of former St Michel player Gervais Waye-Hive, who has joined St Louis.

There is also change at the top for league champions Côte d’Or, who dismissed Ahmed Abdou and replaced him with former national team head coach Ralph Jean-Louis. What’s even more interesting is that it appears that Abdou will now probably be going to rivals St Michel if the rumours prove to be true.

S.N