General Aung San Shield: 2020 Football Tournament To Commence In April

2020 General Aung San Shield knock-out Football Tournament is scheduled to be held from 8th April to 30th September.

The drawing lot for football event schedule was held with a ceremony at the Myanmar Football Federation in Yangon on Thursday. 

The General Aung San Shield tournament is the longest term in Myanma football field and had been held since 1957 in memory of late national leader General Aung San.

In the previous years, the events were held with the participation of 20 teams but this year, 5 amateur club teams will be allowed starting the first stage knock-out events with the aim to support more development of Myanma football industry.

Twelve teams from the Myanmar National League clubs and eight teams from Myanmar National League II will participate in the tourney, like the previous year.

CEO, Myanmar National League, Soe Moe Kyaw said “This is the annual event which is held to commemorate the national leader General Aung San. This year's tournament is a significant one because it will be participate 20 teams for MNL 1 and 2 and five teams from amateur league. So, there will be a total of 25 teams, and it will have one more level of match in the tournament. It will be very competitive one. This is the most numbers of participating teams after holding the tournament as the professional league.”

Concerning the holding of football matches amid the outbreak of COVID-19, the official said there is no confirmed cases in Myanmar yet according to the Ministry of Health and Sports, and the postponement will be considered if there is needed.

CEO, Myanmar National League, Soe Moe Kyaw said “We heard about the closed door match of Serie A Tournament due to the spreading of coronavirus. But in our country, there is no confirmed cases of this disease. And the Ministry of Health and Sports has no specific instruction to us. If there necessary, we will consider for postponement. At present, we have no plan for postponement.”

Player, Yangon United FC, Zarni Htet said “We have heard about the cancelation of football matches due to this disease in some foreign countries. So, I wish the situation to be better soon.”

This year' tournament will be the first time collaboration of teams from Amateur Leagues and Professional Leagues. The matches will be played at the Thuwunna Stadium, Padonmar Stadium, and Salin Stadium respectively.