THE 2025 edition of the ExxonMobil boys and girls football championship is set to kick off today at the Ministry of Education Ground.

The tournament, which was set to start on June 21 was delayed because of adverse weather in the city.

Co-director of Petra, Troy Mendonca, said that the venue has been curated and is in good condition for the competition’s start.

He admitted that the ground has been in a state of readiness but organisers were concerned about playing in the rain which would negatively affect the grounds.

He says if they have a repeat with the heavy continuous rains this weekend, organisers will stage the out-of-town match-ups as a priority.

Meanwhile, today, the Ministry of Education ground on CARFESTA Avenue will see 26 matches over the course of the day.

The tournament which saw schools across the country competing in preliminary rounds to earn a berth in the main draw over the past weeks will feature 24 teams in the group stage.

Chase Academic Foundation girls will open their campaign against East Ruimveldt at 11 hours while the first boys match-up will be South Ruimveldt playing Cotton Field.

Good Hope Secondary and Vreed-en-Hoop will battle in the final girls’ engagement at 14:45 hours while St John’s Secondary and North Ruimveldt boys will meet up in the last battle of the day at 17:00 hours

The school teams will play for the championship trophy and the 300,000-dollar cash prize which will be used for a school project of their choice with 200,000 and 100,000 for the second and third placed finishers.

The individual awards for MVP, best goalkeeper and highest goal scorer will also be up for grabs along with the award for most disciplined school.

The boys’ teams are divided in 6 groups of four with the top two teams along with the best four third place teams advancing to the knock-out stage.

The round robin games are being staged at the Ministry of Education and Queen’s College grounds on Saturday and Sundays with all the games from the knock-out stage set for the MOE ground on CARFESTA Avenue.