Crown host international tournament

The top table at the press conference. LtoR: Bouy Dary (PPCFC Academy Head Coach), Rithy Samnang (President PPCFC), Vann Piseth (Tournament General Secretary)

Mark your diaries. If you want to see quality foreign opposition against the cream that Cambodia has to offer at youth (13 and under) age level then the First State Gold Investment Cup is for you. It will take place next weekend (10 & 11 September) at the Phnom Penh Crown FC training headquarters at Tuol Kork, to be known in the future as the RSN Stadium. Crown will host the six teams taking part over the two days of competition, with round robin matches on the Saturday afternoon (kick off is 1pm) and the finals on the Sunday, with the competition final taking place at 11am. The second day will be televised live on the TVK television station throughout Cambodia. Matches will be played at 7-a-side and on a reduced sized pitch and I can promise you goals, goals and lots of action. The Crown Academy boys will be entering two teams (each squad is 12 players strong), the Cambodia U-13 Festival champions, Cambodian Foundation Organization from Kompong Chhnang will also take part, and will face foreign opposition in the form of the International Soccer Academy from Singapore and two teams from Saigon in Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh City FC and Hoa Lu FC. International exposure and experience is a key element of the Crown Academy programme, with the boys having already played in Singapore and Vietnam, but now its time to take them on, on home soil, to see how good we really are. It promises to be spectacular. First State Gold Investment Company are the main sponsor with a host of associate sponsors such as Swensens, who'll feed the boys with ice-cream after the tournament ends, Diamond Hotel, who will house the visiting teams and others such as Canon, ANCO, Gold City Casino, AIR, The Friday Lounge and so on. A press conference at the Crown Sports Bar this morning introduced the tournament with Crown President Rithy Samnang saying; "This is a great opportunity for the boys to gain more experience by playing teams from other countries. They need this experience and tough matches if they want to become the professional footballers of the future. We want this competition to be an annual event in the future." Seven television news cameras were at the press conference including TVK, Bayon, Apsara, CTN and TV5.

The roll-call of tournament sponsors, and the Metfone C-League trophy on display

The walls of the Crown Sports Bar are decorated with massive posters of the PPCFC team

More posters decorate the outside windows of the Crown Sports Bar on Street 200