If everything goes as planned, Bhutan will host the first-ever South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) High School Championship in 2021. Once commenced, SAFF High School Championship will be an annual football competition for top High Schools across the South Asian region.
Given the go-ahead from the Asian Football Confederation for the maiden SAFF High School Competition, the Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) is hopeful of kick-starting the competition by next year.
“We have already spoken to the AFC and SAFF and also the SAFF member countries. They are all very much supportive of the initiative and AFC has also given us the green signal because they feel it is a very good platform for SAFF schools to perform. I think AFC will support us on the financial matter, technicality, and in doing all the documentation,” said Phuntsho Wangdi, the Head of Commercial and Communication at the BFF.
For this, the BFF will organise the Bhutan Higher Secondary School Championship in 2021. 82 higher secondary schools across the country will take part in the competition.
“The main idea behind starting this high school championship is mainly because we have proposed for the SAFF High School Championship which will be conducted by BFF. It will be held here in Thimphu. High School Tournament is one of the major tournaments where we get a lot of talented players so that it will be good scouting for BFF to find good players for the youth national team and the senior national team,” he added.
The winner of the competition will represent Bhutan in the SAFF High School Championship. All SAFF member countries are expected to participate in the competition. For now, about 50 per cent of works are completed concerning the SAFF High School Championship. BFF is currently waiting for a response from the SAFF.
Passang Dorji
