Beach Soccer |02 August 2013

 New era underway in Seychelles’ football

Seychelles’ football will enter a new era with the start of the new beach soccer league.

Organised by the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF), the league, which opened last Saturday at the Roche Caïman sand pitch, is being contested by six teams. A few household names, including former Seychelles international Alpha Baldé, have abandoned the more familiar 11-a- side football to pursue the challenge of beach football.

The matches are being played on Saturdays at the sand pitch behind the Astroturf pitch at Roche Caïman as from 2pm.
The rules are noticeably different from the football we usually see, as instead of two halves, they play three periods of 12 minutes each, separated by breaks of 3 minutes. The teams also comprise five players each rather than eleven.

In the first matches played, there were wins for Real Madive over Maia where the final score was 8-2. MLUH lost out to One Stone on a 7-15 scoreline while Thunderstorm defeated Team RA 10-4.
After the first results, it is One Stone who lead the standings ahead of Thunderstorm and Real Maldive, all on 3 points but separated by goal difference.

At this early stage, one should not read too much into the results as it is just the beginning of a new chapter in local football. The public should lend their encouragement to this new venture as it promises to entertain and deliver a more fast-paced football action.

The next matches will be played this coming Saturday, where it is hoped that the public will come out in numbers for the three matches on schedule.

S. N.