Coca-Cola, and its partner Caribbean Bottlers T&T Ltd, have pledged more than $1 million over five years in a sponsorship deal with the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL). This was announced at the ‘Coca Cola InterCol’ media launch at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain yesterday.
Coca-Cola Caribbean Service Company Ltd’s senior market development manager Muhammad Abdullah noted that the company first began using football imagery in its advertising in 1917.
It later became an official sponsor of the World Cup in 1974 and has been one of Fifa’s longest standing corporate sponsors. “No other sport unites the world and captures the fans’ passions like football,” he said.
“This is why Coca-Cola has been associated with the sport for so many years.” He also promised that the tournament would attract attention from around the country. “Coca-Cola InterCol is a new experience and will be the talk of the town for the next few months,” he said.
SSFL president Ewing Davis credited Coca-Cola with breathing new life into the annual event.
“The success of this competition will be due mainly to the civic mindedness and vision of our corporate partner,” he said. The Coca-Cola InterCol begins on October 28 with the first round of the zonal competition.
After the zonal finals, there will be the Coca-Cola ‘Big 8’ , which will involve the champion and runner-up of the North, East and South zones and the winner of Central and Tobago.
St Mary’s won the North Zone with St Augustine taking the East, Presentation copping the South, Carapichaima notching the Central and Mason Hall winning Tobago.
The company has also vowed to send a T&T Under 15 team to the Latin America Copa Coca-Cola tournament in Mexico in 2010. The Copa Coca-Cola programme consists of 10,000 teenage teams from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Abdullah unveiled the tournament’s new logo, entitled The Kick Off. The logo is meant to signify the kick off of a new era in school football for T&T.
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