With last night’s closing ceremony, Youth City Futsal Cup 2018 – the largest futsal tournament ever held in Maldives officially concludes.

Held in Ministry of Youth and Sports Futsal ground, near Rehendhi School, the First Lady of Maldives Madam Fathimath Ibrahim attended the ceremony as chief guest, accompanied by Ministers, Members of the Parliament, HDC Board members and Executive Committee members. Partners and sponsors of the tournament and representatives from each team attended this event as well.

During the event, the final matches of both men and women teams were played, where team “Dhivehi Sifainge Club (DSC)” and “FC Dhaaelhun” took the title of YCFC2018 champions, taking the winning price of MVR 100,000 each. The runner-ups “Team Friends” and “L. Gan Futsal Club” took MVR 50,000 each and “Women’s Football Club” and “Flat 7” received MVR 25,000 each with the title of fair-play teams.

YCFC2018 was the largest futsal tournament to be ever held in Maldives yet, stretching out to almost 3 weeks. A total of 136 teams took part in this tournament, with 120 men’s and 16 women’s teams. While the women’s team initially played in group stages, the men’s team played knock-out games from the beginning.

Other awards in the tournament were won as follows:

-Best Player of the Tournament

Women’s Division – Mariyam Rifa, Dhivehi Sifainge Club

Men’s Division – Ali Hafiz, FC Dhaaelhun

-Best Coaches

Women’s Division – Ahmed Ali, Dhivehi Sifainge Club

Men’s Division – Ahmed Sinan – FC Dhaaelhun

-Fair Play Players

Women’s Division – Aminath Shamila, Women’s Football Club

Men’s Division – Ali Nashid, L. Gan Futsal Club

-Most Promising Players

Women’s Division – Firushana Naseer – Team Friends

Men’s Division – Hussain Suhail – Machchangoalhi Zuvaanunge Gulhun

-Best 5 Players

Women’s Division – Shaliya (Women’s Football Club), Mariyam Rifa (Dhivehi Sifainge Club), Safiyya Rafa (Team Friends), Aminath Zahiya (Dhivehi Sifainge Club), and Shaaiga Hussain (Dhivehi Sifainge Club)

Men’s Division – Ahmed Haleem (L. Gan Futsal Club), Ali Haafiz (FC Dhaaelhun), Ali Nashid (L. Gan Futsal   Club), Ibrahim Mubeen Ahmed Rasheed (Baji-Yeah), Mohamed Shafeeu (FC Dhaaelhun)

-Top Scorer

Women’s Division – Mariyam Rifa, Dhivehi Sifainge Club

Men’s Division – Abdulla Shafiu, Baji-Yeah

-Referees of the Final Match

Under the Corporate Social Responsibility of Housing Development Corporation, this tournament was initially initiated last year in the aims of creating a friendly environment and a platform for networking, community building and instill values of sportsmanship amongst the participating youth. Moreover, HDC believes in the importance of creating better opportunities for the youth through such activities and make the government’s vision of Hulhumalé as a Youth City come to life.

This year’s tournament was the second of its kind, with the first tournament initiated by HDC last year with 108 teams, and is planned to be held on an annual basis.