Hameed Al Husseinie College defeated historical arch-rivals Zahira College Colombo at the finals 1-0, to be crowned as champions of the Colombo Central Zonal Tournament. Mohamed Arham (J.No-9) scored the winning goal for the Hameedians.

In the quarterfinals Hameedia beat St. John’s College Colombo 9, 5-0 and in the semifinals they beat Darussalam College 2-0. The Colombo Central Zone is historically one of the toughest and fiercely fought battling grounds of Sri Lanka Schools and Sri Lanka’s Club Football circuit.

Meanwhile Zahira College Colombo became champions of the Under-20 category. According to reports, unfortunately, St. Joseph’s College had given Zahira a walk-over thus preventing a superlative show of a Grand Finale clash between the two neighbouring schools which could have been a fitting end Maradana derby clash. 

The tournament is organised by the Ministry of Education and Sri Lanka Schools Football Association. This tournament is part of the All-Island Schools Football Tournament 2023 Colombo District playoffs. Both Zahira and Hameed Al Husseini qualified for the Western Province under-18 and under-20 tournaments set to begin in the near future. St. Joseph’s in under-20 and Zahira in the under-18 category also qualified for the provincial tournament.