Makassar, 23 September 2023. After going through a long preliminary round, four school futsal teams from four cities including Makassar, Manado, Palu, and Gorontalo are fighting for tickets to the 2023 AXIS Nation Cup Grand Final. The four schools are SMAN 3 Manado, SMAN 8 Makassar, SMKN 2 Palu, and SMAN 1 Gorontalo. Previously, they had set aside dozens of schools in each area, namely the Makassar, Manado, Palu, and Gorontalo areas. A total of 160 school teams took part in this tournament. The competition for tickets to the grand final took place at Maesa Garkindo Futsal Arena, Makassar, on Saturday (23/09).
Acting Group Head of XL Axiata of Sulawesi Region, Mozes H. Baottong, said, "Congratulations to the teams from four schools in 4 provinces who have succeeded in going this far to become champions in their respective provinces and have competed for tickets to the grand final in Jakarta. They are young people 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 largest high school-level futsal tournament in Indonesia. We hope to contribute to spurring sporting achievements among students, as well as strengthening the brand positioning of AXIS in the youth segment. We also hope that school teams from Sulawesi can become the winner in the Grand Final of the AXIS Nation Cup at Istora Senayan, Jakarta."
The futsal tournament in this regional round applies a group tournament system. In Makassar, the winner of the preliminary round in each province will compete to represent their province in the regional round which will take place in Makassar, 23 September 2023. The winner of this regional round will immediately compete to represent the Sulawesi region in the Grand Final. The SMAN 8 Makassar team, as champions of the regional round of Sulawesi in Makassar, will represent schools from the Sulawesi 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 is Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on October 15, 2023.
The four school teams that win in their respective provinces are entitled to a prize as winners of the preliminary round in the form of coaching money amounting to IDR 6,000,000. For the Sulawesi Region, the preliminary rounds were held according to each region, namely at the GOR VISTA in Manado, Futsal Upnormal in Gorontalo, GOR GBK Arena (Palu), and GOR Sudiang (Makassar).
Not only can they take part in the futsal tournament, each school also has the opportunity to take part in three other competitions to represent their school in this event, namely the dance competition, supporter competition, and OSIS Competition. All participants from each school who have been selected as participants in these three competitions will be selected and the six best teams will be determined from the three competitions. 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.