The maiden edition of the National Finals of the MILO Under 13 Champions League ended last Saturday with Bepong Methodist Primary School from the Eastern defeating Camboni R/C Primary from the Volta region 2-0 to win championship.

The three-day event which was held at the Paa Joe Park at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) saw ten schools Bepong Methodist- Eastern region, Camboni Primary- Volta region, Yawmetwa- Western region, West Ridge school- Central region, Kintampo Methodist Primary- Brong Ahafo region, Buobai Primary school – Ashanti region, Kalpohin Primary- Northern region, Garu Presby Primary- Upper East, Kpone Bawaleshie, Gt. Accra and Yayumbe Primary drawn from the ten regions of Ghana to battle for supremacy for the ultimate prize of GHC10,000, MILO products and the bragging right of winning the first ever edition.

The Milo Champions League, organized in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and endorsed by the Ghana Football Association, brings together schools from across the country with over 36,000 students from 2000 schools participating in the competition.

Prior to the finals, four zonal qualifiers were held for all ten regions of Ghana. The winning teams from the zonal matches were trained by seasoned veteran and current footballers and coaches.

In an interview with the Managing Director for Nestlé Ghana, Freda Y. Duplan said: “Nestlé Milo the energy food drink of future champions is taking sports to the doorsteps of children in basic schools to help inspire the youth of Ghana to get into sports and enjoy the positive experiences of physical activity early in life.

This is a demonstration of Nestlé’s commitment to Nutrition, Health and Wellness”, she added.

The Category Manager for Beverages, Jude Addison reiterated that, Nestlé Milo encourages mothers to get their kids into sports because sports has a unique ability to help instil life values such as hard work, responsibility, fair play, discipline, perseverance and team spirit.

Representatives of the Ashanti King, Ministry of Youth and Sports & the Ghana Football Association, seasoned coaches, Tournament icon Stephen Appiah, the former captain of the Ghana Black Stars, as well as old and current players of the various Ghana national football teams were present at the event.

Stephen Appiah on his side congratulated all the participating schools for treating Ghanaians with such great soccer artistry and all called on Ghanaians to appreciate the effort of Nestle MILO.

Ghanaians should appreciate the effort of Nestle MILO since they are helping the country produce a lot of football players to feed our local clubs as well as the national teams.”

Enerst Awuah from the winning school Bepong Methodist Primary won the golden ball award with Ganihu Fuseini from Yawmetwa and Daniel Owusu from Camboni winning the Silver and bronze balls respectively.

Safianu Tahiru of Kintampo and Emmanuel Robertson also won the golden boot and golden gloves respectively. All award winners went home with cash prizes and trophies. The Northern region was also awarded the Fair Play award.