Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) U17 tournament
West Region Champions:
Boys: Unique High School
Girls: Shuuku High School
Kitara Region Champions:
Boys: Erima Soccer Academy
Girls: Tooro Queens
The 2019 Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) u17 nation-wide regional qualifiers successfully climaxed on Sunday at Masindi main stadium with the Kitara and Western region qualifiers. In the Kitara region, Kiryandongo’s Erima Soccer Academy and Fort Portal’s Tooro Queens were the boys and girls regional champions respectively.
Erima Soccer Academy beat Kabalega Secondary School 2-1 in the epic finale watched by a passionate crowd while Tooro Queens were 4-3 penalty winners over Panyadoli after a 1-1 normal time draw.
Janet Apolot gave Panyadoli the lead in the opening half before Sumaya Komunatle found the equalizer in the subsequent half to send the game into the shoot outs. The tournament exclusive sponsors, Airtel-Uganda were represented by the Kitara region Area manager William Kintu while Rogers Byamukama, the FUFA head of marketing and MP hopeful Masinsi municipality also represented FUFA alongside other federation officials.
“We are glad to have a sponsor like Airtel Uganda who has supported football at all levels in Uganda; right from the grassroots to the national team (Uganda Cranes). I thank all the participating teams in all regions and all stakeholders who have worked tooth and nail to make the regional qualifiers a success. We are now set for the grand finals in Kampala,” Byamukama, a darling of Masindi youths and football fraternity noted.
The weekend action followed weekends of qualifiers in the Kampala, Buganda, Eastern, North Eastern, Northern and West Nile regions. The 2019 Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) national finals will be hosted by Kampala region between 4th and 8th September and the winner will take home Shs7m while the runners up will have Shs5m. Each team at the finals will be given a set of jersey.
The regional champions each won Shs1.5m cash prize while the runners up got Shs1m and a set of jersey each. Airtel-Uganda, who are the Uganda Cranes and Airtel-Masaza Cup sposnors, also gave away football equipment to five schools in each region for further football development.
Kitara and Western region Awards:
MVP’s:
Kitara Boys: Simon Peter (Erima Academy)
Kitara Girls: Sumaya Komontale (Tooro Queens)
Western Boys: Richard Tumwebaze (Unique High School)
Western Girls: Sarah Arimpa (Bishop Ogez)
Top Scorers:
Western Girls: Aine Adela – 5 goals
Western Boys: Fahad Yusuf (Ssendyowa) – 6 goals
Kitara Boys: Paul Busolo (Erima Soccer Academy) – 8 goals
Kitara Girls: Anita Babirye (Tooro Queens) – 3 goals
Best Goalkeepers:
Western Girls: Theline Atuhwera (Shuuku)
Western Boys: Eugene Owesiga (Unique)
Kitara Boys: Najib Al Hajji (Kabalega)
Kitara Girls: Cecilia Kamuli (Tooro Queens)
Team awards:
Kitara Boys:
Winners: Erima Soccer Academy
Runners up: Kabalega Secondary School
Kitara Girls:
Winners: Tooro Queens
Runners up: Panyandoli
Western Boys:
Winners: Unique High School
Runners up: Ssendyowa
