PESHAWAR: The city level qualifiers concluded here in nine more cities bringing the total to 15 in the Ufone KP Football Championship in progress here.

City level champions from Swat, Buner, Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Upper and Lower Dir, Nowshera and Charssadda have been decided in addition to Lakki Marwat, D.I. Khan, Tank, Mansehra, Haripur and Malakand. Remaining matches in the cities of Swabi, Mardan, Chitral, Bannu, Abbottabad and Peshawar will now be taking place in the coming week.

The 21 cities participating in the tournament have been divided into four regions of Hazara, Malakand, Peshawar and Kohat. The city champions will compete in the eliminators within their respective regions, from where two teams from each region will advance to the Super 8 stage of the championship which will be held at Tamas Khan Football Ground in Peshawar from Nov 18.

At the city level, Star 11 FC was beaten by Matta 11 FC in a sensational penalty shootout. The match was played at Matta Cantt. Ground where Matta 11 FC scored on all the five penalties to claim the city title for Swat.

In Karak’s Latambar Stadium, Latambar Academy FC beat Latambar Combined FC in a closely fought match. Both teams scored one goal each after which the Latambar Academy scored on four penalties to claim Karak’s city champion title. Waseem from Latambar Academy and Jadeed from Latambar Combined scored one goal each for their team.

Similarly, in Kohat, the city title match was played between DFA Red FC and DFA Green FC. Shahrukh from DFA Green scored in the 40th minute to put his team in the lead but DFA Red’s Haris scored an equalizer in the 47th minute. The match was decided on penalties where DFA Green won by 5 penalties to claim the city title.

Dir Tigers FC beat Chakdara Juniors FC 5 -1 at the city qualifier played at FC Ground Chakdara. Mazar Ghaffar scored a hat trick to get his team the decisive lead to win the match. Besides him, Sher Ali and Haider scored from the team while Chakdara Juniors’ only scorer was Saifullah.

In Buner’s Gadezi ground, Buner Star FC beat Buner Markhor 1 – 0 to claim the city title for Buner. Ilyas scored the only goal of the match.

Hangu’s city title went to Hangu 11 who beat Thall 11 2 – 0 in a nail biter played at Hangu Complex. Naveed and Israr scored from Hangu to take their team to the eliminator round. Similarly, in Charssadda’s Wali Khan Complex, Shah FC beat Wali Khan Academy FC by 2 – 0. Hussain Shah and Munawar scored from their team.

Nowshera White FC beat Nowshera Red FC at Farooq stadium in a one sided affair by 5 – 1. Nowshera White dominated the game from the beginning where Ayaz scored two goals. His team mates Muhammad, Farhan and Shakeel contributed with one goal each. Nowshera Red’s only goal was scored by Umer Farooq. Additionally, in Upper Dir, DFA Upper Dir A and DFA Upper Dir B clashed at Upper Dir Stadium where DFA Upper Dir A won on a penalty shootout by 5 goals. Shah Yousaf scored from DFA Upper Dir A while DFA Upper Dir B’s scorer was Ehtisham.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2019