Banjarmasin, 16 September 2023. After going through a long preliminary round, four futsal teams from 4 schools are fighting for tickets to the 2023 AXIS Nation Cup Grand Final. The four schools are SMAN 1 Martapura, SMAN 5 Banjarmasin, SMKN 4 Samarinda, and SMKN 1 Balikpapan. Previously, they had set aside dozens of schools in each area, namely the area of Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Pontianak, and Balikpapan. The competition for the grand final tickets took place at Banjarmasin (16/9). My Stadium, Denpasar, on Saturday (09/09). SMKN 1 Balikpapan managed to become the winner and advance to the grand final round which will be held at Istora Senayan, next month.
Acting XL Axiata Group Head for Kalimantan, Horas Lubis, said, "Previously, we congratulated the teams from 160 schools in Kalimantan province who had succeeded in going this far. We also congratulated the team from SMKN 1 Balikpapan who had fought and succeeded in winning tickets "to move on to the grand final round at Istora Senayan, next October. They are the champions in their respective provinces, who have succeeded in getting grand final tickets to Jakarta."
"They are also young people who have high motivation to achieve achievements. Therefore, we, XL Axiata management, are 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 encouraging sports achievements among students and strengthening AXIS' brand positioning in the youth segment," explained Horas further.
The futsal tournament in this regional round applies a group tournament system. The winner of the preliminary round in each province located in Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Balikpapan, to Pontianak, will compete to represent the city level in the regional round which took place in Banjarmasin, on Saturday, September 16, 2023. The winner of this regional round will immediately compete to represent the Kalimantan region in the Grand Final. In the grand final round, a total of 10 teams will compete to win the AXIS Nation Cup 2023, located at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on October 15, 2023. The four school teams who successfully advanced to this round were entitled to a prize as winners of the preliminary round in the form of coaching money amounting to IDR 6,000,000.
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.