A band of former soccer players called Zahira Veterans have organize an event “Battle of the Masters 2019” football tournament scheduled for October 27 from 8.00am at the College ground.
With a rich history of over 127 years, Zahira College, Colombo is one of the pioneers in schools football and has been dominating the game ever since its inception and has produced several national football players.
Zahira Veterans was incorporated in 2008 by founder Patron Naina Mohamed (former national player), along with a few other football legends produced by Zahira.
Since 2011 the team has made several trips annually to play against foreign Veterans teams. The team has travelled previously to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia on numerous occasions.
Football at Zahira is not just a sport but a passion ingrained deep within the culture for more than 100 years and organisers say the tournament will be an initiative in recognizing Sri Lankan football how it was in the past with the concept of bringing together the bond of former football players to promote the importance and value of their experience for future young footballers.
The main sponsor is the Old Boys Association (Saudi Arabia Branch), Member of the Executive Committee, Mohamed Jiffry and co-sponsored by Commercial Safety with Marketing Executive FKM Zahran presenting their sponsorship cheques to the Principal of the Zahira College Trizviiy Marikkar.
The proceeds of this tournament, according to the organisers, will be utilized to uplift the sports facilities at Zahira College by providing four Dugouts (substitute benches) at the College ground.
Participating teams in the tournament are Zahira, Royal, Ananda, Hameed Al Husseinie, St. Benedict’s, De Mazenod, Zahira Gampola and St. Henry’s Jaffna.
President of the Zahira Veterans TJ Chuncheer and Principal Zahira College Trizviiy Marikkar addressed the media on arrangements for the matches while Zahira College OBA President Naina Mohamed, Project Chairman Shaffie Namiz and Members were present.