Yesterday evening, the draw for the Ramadan Cup Championship was held in its 13th edition for football 2023, which will be held during the period from the first of Ramadan until the sixteenth of it, at the Aspire Academy stadiums, with the participation of 16 teams, and with a total prize pool of half a million riyals. The draw ceremony, which was held in the Aspire Dome, was attended by Ali Jassim Al-Muftah, the tournament director, Hussein Al-Sharshani, assistant general supervisor of the tournament, and representatives, managers and coaches of the participating teams. The draw placed the defending champions, Al Mamoura, in the fourth iron group, which includes the Lahwila team, the Al Kass channel team and Zekreet, all of which are names that have previously won the title or were strongly nominated to reach the furthest point, while the first group included the teams of Umm Salal, Al Wajba, Al Shahaniya and Al Mayda, while the second group included the teams of Khalifa City. And Al-Rumaila, Barzan and Unaizah, while the third group teams include Al-Dafna, Al-Khor, Umm Al-Afaa and Al-Wakra. The first round will be held in the league system from one round, and the first and second of each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, which will be held in the knockout system, until the final match that determines the champion. The tournament witnessed a great turnout for the participation of all the teams bearing the names of regions in the country, but the organizing committee was satisfied with the participation of only 16 teams, and the organizing committee is keen on diversity in the participations to give everyone the opportunity to participate, as new names appear in this version of the tournament, which achieved great success. Over the years, it has become one of the best and strongest Ramadan tournaments. Mr. Issa bin Abdullah Al-Hitmi, General Manager of Al-Kass Sports Channels, confirmed that organizing the tournament comes out of the keenness of Al-Kass Channels to carry out its social responsibility in order to encourage young people to practice football, unload youth energies through sports and spread awareness of its importance to be a healthy lifestyle in their lives. He added: We are happy with the great success achieved by the tournament over the years, until it became one of the strongest tournaments during the holy month of Ramadan, and it has a good reputation and receives great attention. For his part, Hussein Al-Sharshani, Assistant General Supervisor of the tournament, praised the ideal atmosphere in which the tournament draw took place, stressing that all teams showed their desire to present a distinguished level befitting the tournament through the spirit of brotherhood that appeared in the draw, which is the goal of holding such tournaments in the holy month. He pointed out that the draw revealed strong confrontations, especially in the fourth group, which includes all teams nominated to compete for the title, which ignites the atmosphere of the tournament from the beginning, as everyone will be waiting for fiery matches in the group stage on the way to the rest of the rounds and the final match.
