Linda Secondary School from Southern Province are the winners of the 2016 Copa Coca-Cola football tournament following a thrilling final at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka on Saturday , July 9th, 2016.
Linda beat Ituna Secondary School from Northern Province 3-1 in a crucial match that was largely dominated by Ituna.
The tournament attracted schools from the ten provinces and outstanding teams, athletes, coaches and match officials were awarded with medals and trophies.
Linda walked away with K15,000 presented to them by Coca-Cola Marketing Manager for Zambia and Malawi Takunda Jinda, who congratulated them for their hard work. Ituna and Chizongwe received K10,000 and K7,500, as they emerged second and third place, respectively.
“It is our honor to be associated with this tournament for over 20 years now. Coca-Cola is about fun, youth and energy and that certainly came across during the course of this tournament,” Mr Jinda said.
“I would like to thank the sponsors for being with us for a long time now. This tournament has been going on for over 20 years without breaking at any point,” said Zambia Schools Sports Association (ZASSA) president Chipangano Tembo.
COPA Coca-Cola is the premier grassroots football tournament sponsored by the drinks brand and organised by Zambian Breweries in partnership with the Zambia Schools Sports Association (ZASSA) and the Ministry of Education. The initiative commenced in 1993 with only 100 schools participating and has now grown to include 450 government and private schools in Zambia.
As part of its Live for a Difference commitment to communities, COPA Coca-Cola promotes an active, healthy lifestyle while fostering teens’ interest in soccer. The tournament offers youth an opportunity to meet and interact with peers across the country as well as other nations. The programme also provides opportunities to recognize rising soccer talent among community youth.
(Mwebantu)
Only K15,000 for the winners!! This is a joke really!! Cocacola is a rich company and certainly should be paying more and I am looking at 100 times more than that. It is so stupid of them to be paying that illusory amount of money. They gain alot more from the publicity and viewers and it is high time they stopped exploiting our kids.
thats nothing 15pin pure exploitation.
You are very right Chilyata…
Put up a tournament ba chilyata so that we see how much you will put in the trophy
Well done Linda Secondary. We are always proud of you. In our days, Linda used to be second to Monze in the Provincial tournament but its more gratifying to learn that they are the national champions. Congrats.
The prize money does not make sense. I can pay that from my salary and it is coming from a global brand like Coke. Jokes in Zambia
Well done Linda Secondary…..In my time Kalomo and Monze Secondary dominated soccer.Naboye and Kafue sprung up from nowhere as they had Nitrogen Chemicals players…Kelvin Mutale(RIP) was one the guys.