Chances of schoolboy footballers in T&T gaining scholarships or even professional contracts abroad have been given a major boost through a US$1.5 million five-year partnership signed between Digicel Play, SportsMax and the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL).
This is as a result of a first time ever, top of the line television coverage as SportsMax (Jamaica) and T&T’s CNC3 will be broadcasting 20 matches during the upcoming Shell/First Citizens SSFL Premier Division, Coca-Cola InterCol and the newly formed Digicel Play Cup competitions during the season which kick off with a double-header at Irwin Park, Siparia, tomorrow (Wednesday).
The launch was held at Trotters Restaurant Maraval Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday and created a buzz among all invited guest which included former SSFL and Soca Warriors standout, Brent Sancho and Minister of Sports Darryl Smith.
In the opening match, two-time reigning Premier Division champions Naparima College, also the Inter-Col champions comes up against San Juan North Secondary from 4 pm while Shiva Boys Hindu College tackles Presentation College of San Fernando, at the same venue at 6.15 pm.
As part of the deal, all TV matches will be broadcast live across 25 Caribbean countries in high definition; seven TV matches will be shown live on CNC3 and 13 TV matches will be showed delayed across T&T; while all TV matches will be shown live in the USA and Canada on CEEN television.
The 11 other schools in the 15-team Premier Division which will see three teams being demoted at the end of the season back to their respective Zonal Championship Divisions are Signal Hill Secondary, Pleasantville, Fatima College, St Anthony’s College, St Benedict’s College, Trinity College Moka, East Mucurapo, Fyzabad Secondary, Queen’s Royal College, St Mary’s College and St Augustine Secondary.