Palembang, 26 August 2023. After going through a long preliminary round, seven school futsal teams from Sumatra competed for tickets to the AXIS Nation Cup 2023 Grand Final. The seven schools were SMAN 2 Binjai, SMAN 1 Payakumbuh, SMAN 5 Pekanbaru, SMAN 5 Jambi City, State Sports School of Sriwijaya Palembang, SMAN 1 Tanjung Batu, and SMAN 4 Metro. Previously, they had set aside dozens of schools in each area, namely areas of Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Palembang, and Lampung. In total, 280 school teams from all over Sumatra participated in this tournament. The fight for tickets to the grand final will take place at Boom Futsal, Palembang, South Sumatra, Saturday (26/8).
Group Head of XL Axiata West Region, Desy Sari Dewi, said, "Congratulations to the teams from seven schools in seven provinces who have made it this far to become champions in their respective provinces for fighting over tickets to the grand final in Jakarta. They are young seeds who have high motivation to achieve achievements. Therefore, we, XL Axiata management are also very enthusiastic about facilitating them to pursue their dreams, by holding the biggest high school-level futsal tournament in Indonesia. We hope to contribute to spurring sports achievements among students, as well as strengthening the brand positioning of AXIS in the youth segment. We also hope that the school team from Sumatra can win the AXIS Nation Cup Grand Final at Istora Senayan, Jakarta."
The futsal tournament in the regional round applies a group tournament system. In Sumatra, the winners of the preliminary round in each province will compete to represent their province in the regional round which will take place in Palembang, 26 August 2023. The winners of this regional round will immediately compete to represent the Sumatra region in the Grand Final. SMAN 4 Metro Lampung Team as the winner of the regional round in Palembang, will represent schools from the Sumatra region. In the grand final round, a total of 10 teams will compete to win the AXIS Nation Cup 2023. The location for the grand final will be at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on 15 October 2023.
The seven school teams that won in their respective provinces are entitled to prizes as winners of the preliminary round in the form of coaching money of IDR 6,000,000. For the Sumatra region, the preliminary rounds were held in accordance with each region, namely at Playfair Sports Hall for Banda Aceh, Baru Sports Hall (Binjai), Rafhelly Sports Hall (Padang), Hall A Rumbai Sports Hall (Pekanbaru), Kota Baru Sports Hall (Jambi), Boom Futsal Gymnasium (Palembang), and UIN Sports Hall (Bandar Lampung).
Not only being able to take part in the futsal tournament, each school also had the opportunity to take part in three other competitions to represent their school in this event, namely the dance competition, the supporter competition, and the OSIS Competition. All participants from each school that have been selected as participants in these three competitions will be selected and the six best teams from the three competitions will be determined. The winners of the dance competition, supporter competition, and OSIS Competition are entitled to win prizes of millions of rupiah, trophies, and certificates.
Nationally, the 2023 AXIS Nation Cup futsal tournament was attended by 1,200 schools from 30 cities throughout Indonesia. The tournament winners will receive a total prize of IDR 270 million. Apart from cash prizes, there is also a prize in the form of the opportunity to take part in a camp program at one of the well-known football clubs for the five best players in this event.