FOR the past 21 years, the Kashif and Shanghai Football festival, Guyana’s premier football tournament, has been giving football fans across the Land of Many Waters an exciting tournament.
Every year, Greg ‘Kashif’ Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major have been working assiduously at ensuring the present tournament surpasses the previous year’s, and to date they have avoided numerous hiccups in achieving such goals.
In 2009, they brought the world’s most famous soccer player Edison Arantes de Nascimento to these shores while the following year a first prize worth G$2M, including cash and kind, was awarded to the champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United.
This year, they will be handing out the largest purse ever to be given to a champion in a local football tournament – one pound of gold worth G$4M, compliments of Aruwai Enterprise Incorporated.
Such feats cannot be achieved without the help of Corporate Guyana and yesterday, one of their dedicated sponsors, Mohammed’s Enterprise Limited, continued its support to Guyana’s most anticipated tournament by local footballers.
Apart from Mohammed’s Enterprise, the tournament’s oldest sponsor was beverage giant Banks DIH Limited, before the dynamic duo parted ways with them prior to the launch of the 2009 tournament.
At a simple presentation ceremony held at their Lombard Street location, Managing Director of Mohammed’s Enterprise Brother Nazar Mohammed said his company felt pleased to be associated with the tournament, before presenting the winners’ trophy replicas and the second prize money of G$1M.
Adding that The City Mall has been added to his company’s chain of businesses, Mohammed said his business has garnered massive support from the people of Linden and it was a way of showing gratitude.
He noted that they are always contributing to the development of sports in Guyana and look forward for an interesting tournament.
Twenty clubs will participate in this year’s tournament, with two of them being foreign-based in Caledonia AIA from Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean United from Barbados.
They will do battle with several local clubs, including former champions Bakewell Topp XX, Milerock, BK Western Tigers, Pele and Victoria Kings along with newcomers Timehri Panthers and Kuru Kururu Warriors.