All is set for the national phase of the Katswiri FCB U20 League which will take place this weekend at Mpira Village in Blantyre.

The two day Championship will attract four teams namely northern region champions Chicago FC, central region champions Factory FC, Southern region champions Galaxy FC as well as Blantyre District champions Manchester Motor FC .

Speaking during the semifinal and final draw and the kit handover ceremony at Mpira Village on Thursday morning, National Youth Football Association General Secretary James Sawerengera said the association is ready to crown the 2023 champions, five months after launching  the competition.

He added that the league offers a good platform to nurture young talent for the elite leagues and national teams.

“This year, the league registered about 4000 players from the 14 participating districts which is a good number in as far as player development is concerned.

“As administrators, we are set to wrap up the season with the crowning of Katswiri of Katswiri for the entire nation as the teams participating are the cream of the regions.

“But going foward we would like to have all the 28 districts participating in the league not just 14 so that we have a lot of boys playing football in the country,” he said.

In his remarks, First Capital Bank Marketing Manager Pachalo Chirwa said the bank is proud to be part of the youth football project which has produced alot of players for elite level.

“As a bank we are very excited to have reached this far because sport is one of the key pillars in our CSR.

 “It has been an exciting five months and now that we have the best four teams who will fight for the national championship, it  is a moment of pride for us.

“It’s also exciting that we have unveiled jerseys that these teams will use during the finals as one way of motivating them for reaching this far.

“Some of the teams are coming from very remote areas and have never used jerseys of this quality so this alone is a morale booster to them,” he said.

Chicago FC will host Manchester Motor FC in the first semifinal while Galaxy FC will meet Factory FC in the second semifinal on Friday.

The semifinal winners will battle it out for the Championship on Saturday.

Defending Champions Silver Strikers Youth did not make it to the national finals as they were booted out at regional phase.