Off season activity

The new RSN playing surface before the drains are laid

There is a lot going on at Phnom Penh Crown over the next few months. That's after we are presented with the Metfone C-League Championship trophy this coming Sunday evening at the end of the domestic season. We meet Boeung Ket in our final game at 6pm at Olympic Stadium, with the Championship having already been sealed with two matches to spare. Immediately after the final game, a selection of our players will be training with the Cambodian national team for tournaments in Brunei (U-21 tournament) and in Laos (AFF Suzuki Cup Qualifiers) over the coming months, while head coach Sam Schweingruber will be off to China for four weeks to run a grassroots FIFA training course with hundreds of Chinese youngsters. Our goalkeeping coaches, Prak Vanny and Nguon Chansothea are currently on a FIFA-run goalkeeping course at Tonle Bati, and that's where Academy head coach Bouy Dary will be spending the whole month of August taking his AFC A-Licence coaching course. The Cambodia Youth League at U-15 and U-17 levels is expected to kick-off again in September for a period of three months duration and will include Crown teams at both ages after we won both competitions last time around, an U-13 team including Crown's community youngsters will travel to Incheon in South Korea for a friendship tournament and in the meantime, work will continue on the development of the new RSN Stadium at Tuol Kork. Here's a photo taken at the weekend of the new playing area before we lay the drainage pipes. Looking further ahead it seems the Mekong Cup (for the four champion teams of Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar) will be held in November in Hanoi, but more about that when its finalised. Add into the mix, a few months of wheeling and dealing as Sam Schweingruber looks to tinker with his squad, both foreign and domestic talent, and you have a busy time, considering its supposed to be the off season!