The day was overcast and the football pitch was heavy from 6 hours of rain the night before, however that had no impact on the players’ enthusiasm. Kick off was 9.30am, I arrived at 8am and most of the teams were already out on the fields warming up. There were 12 male and 4 female teams and lots of supporters! Besides Phnom Penh, teams had travelled from Kompong Cham, Kompot and Battambang.

The standard of football on display was well worth the effort to go out and watch. Though the players schedule for the next field did it tough, as three-quarters of the field was under water. The ball would stop dead, players would rush in, splashes, slipping, sliding, lots of smiles but unlike other football tournaments, little noise!

The mens final was a replay of last year with Epic Art from Kompot reversing the result over Krousan Thmey, winning 1-0. In the women’s final, Deaf Development Program from Phnom Penh beat their sister organisation from Kampong 1-0.

Samedy, Vatana, Seiha and all the ISF football staff did a fantastic job.

Also, ISF is pleased to advise that Barclays will sponsor this tournament again in 2014.