WITH a first place prize of $300 000 up for grabs, along with a spot in the National Championship, sixteen teams will begin the quest to see who will be made of more, as Guinness Street Football Challenge, ‘West Side’ edition kicks off tonight at the Pouderoyen Tarmac. 

Golden Star will oppose Brothers United at 18:00hrs in the first game of the tournament after a planned opening ceremony, followed by De Kinderen United versus Vergenoegen All-Stars.
Patentia Street Ballers will then tackle Raiders, Majee will go head-to-head with Demerara Speed Boat Service and Young Warriors will face Jetty.
West Side Ballers versus Pouderoyen Show Stoppers, Admiral United versus Den Amstel FC and Uitvlugt FC versus Showtime are the other games set for the opening day.
Teams will be placed in four groups and after a round-robin format, the top two teams from each group will go into the knockout stage.
The tournament runs through to February 7 and will also be played at the Vergenoegen Rice Mill tarmac. Second-place team will pocket $150 000, third-placers $100 000 and fourth-placers $75 000. There’s also a $50 000 incentive for the team adjudged the ‘Fair Play’ top performer.
Apart from winning the lucrative tournament, the top two finishers will go on to feature in the national tournament, with the aim of representing Guyana in the Guinness Street Challenge Caribbean Championship later on in the year.
It is the first time the competition, which has swept the nation by storm, will be played on the ‘West Side’ and the organisers said that the players are all elated and the fact that the teams are community-based, the competition will certainly unite the respective villages.

(By Rawle Toney)