SIXTEEN teams will contest the 25th edition of the Kashif and Shanghai (K&S) Football tournament, which kicks off on Friday, March 20 at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground and concludes Sunday, April 5 at the Guyana National Stadium. 

Matches will also be played at Victoria (March 21), Mackenzie Sports Club (March 22), DCC (March 25), Uitvlugt Community Centre (March 28), DCC (March 29), Uitvlugt or Leonora (April).
The sixteen g teams listed to participate in this year’s tournament are: Alpha United, Pele FC, Western Tigers, Riddim Squad, Guyana Defence Force, Georgetown Football Club, Victoria Kings, Mahaica Determinators, New Amsterdam United, Slingerz Football Club, Den Amstel, Grove Hi Tec, Agricola Red Triangle, Winners Connection, Hi-Stars and Bartica Beacons.
The winners of this year’s tournament will walk away with $2M, second-placers $1M while third- and fourth-placers pocket $500 000 and $250 000 respectively.
“This twenty-fifth Kashif & Shanghai tournament marks the first occasion in which this, the longest-running football tournament in the country’s history, is being held outside the customary December/January time frame, and, moreover, the tournament will be staged as is customary, on an entirely knockout basis,” Kashif Mohammed said at the launching yesterday at the 704 Sports Bar.
Mohammed stated that the Kashif & Shanghai Organisation wishes to make it known its delight to share a highly successful collaboration with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Normalisation Committee in what they described as “a collective quest to ensure that a place was found for the continued staging of what is unquestionably a historic event on the national football calendar.
Further, we wish to take this opportunity to express our broader support for the Normalisation Committee in its quest to realise the regularisation of football administration in Guyana through the GFF and the resumption of an organised and fulsome calendar of football events across Guyana.”
Mohammed, along with his lifelong friend Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major, is a director of the K&S organisation which once stood as the ‘King of the Hills’ as this tournament was also once upon a time the ‘Holy Grail’ for local football.
With the emergence of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Banks Beer Cup three years ago, the Kashif and Shanghai Football tournament was forced out of its ‘comfort zone’, playing in Easter instead of the end of the year.
How the public will respond to the tournament they have all grown to love and hate will be left to be seen, since Mohammed pointed out that he’s optimistic that the country will embrace the event just like they “used too”.
According to Kashif, “additionally, this year and again for the first time the venues for the tournament will include the historic Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground with its new lighting, excellent playing surface and generous accommodation.”
Ansa McAl Trading under their Stag Beer Brand along with Mohamed’s Enterprise, Demerara Distillers Ltd featuring its Pepsi Brand, Cell Phone Shack, HJTV, Church’s Chicken, Sonic Business Services, Club 704 and JGS Telecommunications are listed as the sponsors for the 25th edition of the tournament.
After a fallout with Banks DIH four years ago, Ansa McAl and Stag Beer stepped in as title sponsor but the road has been rocky for the Trinidadian company and the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation.
Darshnie Yussuf, Ansa McAl’s Public Relations Officer, said that her company is overwhelmed at once again playing a part in what is the country’s longest-running sporting event.
She said that last year, the company had partner to host the Kashif and Shanghai youth tournament which was described as a major success and this time around, behind their Stag Beer, Ansa McAl will ensure that the competition gets the prominence it deserves.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the GFF Normalisation Committee Clinton Urling opined that at present, Guyana is going through a transformation period in the sport and the way it is administered and the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament being shifted from Christmas to Easter is an example.
He said that the GFF technical director Claude Bolton will shortly unfold a calendar of activities for the GFF which will include an elite competition and will also cater for private promoters like the Kashif and Shanghai tournament.
Urling wished the organisation the best and the running of a smooth tournament after offering the blessings of the Normalisation Committee.