The long-awaited ISSA schoolboy football season will kick off on September 6, with CVM TV replacing SportsMax as broadcast sponsors, and Charles Chocolate, through its brands Ping Pong and Catc,h replacing Digicel as one of the presenting sponsors.

This was announced at the media launch on Wednesday night (August 20) at the Summit Business Centre in New Kingston, which will also see a change in format of the Manning Cup that eliminated the home and away games system, which has been in effect for decades.

In essence, after just seven games, 19 teams will be eliminated while the top four teams in each group play three further games amongst themselves, making their total number of games 10.

At this point, the top three teams from each group and the best fourth-placed team will advance to the second round, meaning four more teams will be eliminated, making it 23 before the start of the second round.

The daCosta Cup remained the same from last year, with the home and away format for the groups with fewer than seven teams and the same format as the Manning Cup for groups with more than six teams.

The opening day will see a double header at the Stadium East complex with defending daCosta Cup champion Garvey Maceo taking on Foga Road High in the opening game before defending Manning Cup and all-island champions Kingston College play Charlie Smith High.

President of the InterSecondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Keith Welington, thanked the new and returning sponsors and promised an exciting season of schoolboy football.

“We are again grateful for the continued support of corporate Jamaica in ensuring that ISSA is able to provide adequate financial support to our participating schools as well as meet our obligations to ensure the proper organisation of this year’s competition,” said Wellington.

“Special recognition of the Wisynco Group and its brands – Wata, PowerAde, TruShake and Pringles for its continued investment in schoolboy football.

“Wata will this year serve as the presenting sponsor of the urban Manning Cup. This year, we welcome new sponsors, Charles Chocolate through its brands Catch and Ping Pon. Berts Auto will also join us as a Pool Sponsor alongside the Kirk Distributors through its brand Kendel and Cetamol,” he added.

Thompson Town High was a late withdrawal from Group H in the daCosta Cup leaving 78 teams. There will be 39 teams in the Manning Cup.