Champions Cup 2010 Tournament Announced!

After the success of the hugely anticipated and first ever Mauritian Futsal Cup, MKS Melbourne have announced the Champions Cup 2010 Tournament.  This is the original tournament that started the journey that led to the momentous event of the Mauritian Futsal Cup.


Although the Champions Cup was a tournament that was previously hosted twice a year, with the addition of the Mauritian Futsal Cup, it will now only be played once per year.  To explain the matter, MKS Melbourne has announced that there are some changes underway to the tournaments that it annually hosts.  They remain tight-lipped about the changes and Christopher Cheong, one of the committee members of MKS Melbourne, would only reveal the following:

There are a number of upcoming changes to the MKS Melbourne tournaments.  We don't want to reveal too much right now as we'd like to keep these as surprises for the participating teams and players.  Of course, with these changes, we're sticking to what has worked for us and participating teams in the past.  That is, providing low-cost tournaments, a good social and competitive atmosphere, and lots and lots of futsal. 

The changes that we have planned is only possible with the continuing support and interest that we have received from the teams so far, which I have to say has been over-whelming thus far.  I mean, consider the following. 

In the first Champions Cup, in the winter of 2009, there were 6 participating teams, however, the second Champions Cup in the spring of 2009, attracted 8 teams.  Seeing the increasing interest and inspired by both the success of Mauritian-based teams in the RMIT 2010 Soccer Challenge and the 10th FIFA World Cup, we felt that it was necessary to introduce a new tournament and that it was only appropriate to name it the Mauritian Fustal Cup (MFC).  The MFC 2010 has been our biggest tournament so far, with a record of 9 teams.  I think it's fair to say that all teams played their hearts out during the MFC 2010.

With the resounding success of the MFC 2010, we again think that there are some further appropriate changes to be made to the benefit of all.  We are starting to phase these changes in this year.  By the end of next year, all of the changes we are planning will be in place and I think 2011 will be a good example of what the teams can expect in the coming years.

One change that MKS Melbourne was willing to reveal is the introduction of the official Champions Cup trophy.  The Champions Cup trophy will be much the same as the Mauritian Futsal Cup trophy: starting this year, the first team to claim 3 consecutive or 5 (non-consecutive) Champions Cup tournaments to their name will retain the trophy.

The Champions Cup Trophy

Starting from 2010, the first team to win 3 consecutive or 5 (non-consecutive) Champions Cup tournaments will retain the trophy.

Although The Replacements have won the Champions Cup twice already, in the winter and spring of 2009, these two wins will not be taken into consideration for claiming the Champions Cup trophy.  MKS Melbourne believes it only fair that since the trophy is being introduced at the Champions Cup 2010 tournament that the count should start fresh from henceforth.

The tournament details and format will follow the same MKS Melbourne futsal tournament format.

Tournament details
Champions Cup 2010 Tournament
5-a-side futsal tournament
Saturday 4 September 2010
0900-1600

Important dates
Fri 13/08/2010: Team registration deadline
Fri 20/08/2010: Team payment deadline

Team Registration
To register your team, please fill in the form at:
http://bit.ly/ChampionsCup2010TeamRego

Team size
Team sizes are strictly limited to the following.
Minimum: 5 players
Maximum: 8 players

Team Cost
By Friday 20 August 2010: Discounted early bird team registration cost of $120.
After Friday 20 August 2010: Team registration cost of $150

Tournament Format
The exact tournament format will be confirmed at a later date as it depends on the number of teams competing. However, in general, the tournament will consist of:

1. Qualifying round - a single round robin competition. All teams will participate in this round.

2. Elimination round - a knock-out competition. Only a number of top ranked teams from the qualifying round will progress to this round.

Please note: MKS Melbourne reserves the right to alter the tournament format without notice.

Tournament Rules
The tournament rules will be follow the MKS Melbourne Futsal Tournament Rules.

Referees
In order to keep the cost of the tournament low, every team will need to provide referees for some games. The referees can be one of the players and they will not referee any of their own team's matches.

MKS Melbourne Website
http://mksmelbourne.blogspot.com/
Please monitor the website for updates.

Enquiries
Please send all enquiries to:
mks.melbourneATgmail.com
(replace "AT" with "@").

As always, MKS Melbourne is looking forward to a great and successful tournament and wishes all participating teams the best of luck!