Young Malaysian footballers throughout the country will be itching for action after being inspired by the likes of Italian skipper Fabio Cannavaro, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, French striker Thierry Henry, Brazilian ace Ronaldo and Germany’s topscorer Miroslav Klose.

For the record, the 100PLUS Super Cup, which is supported by the Ministry of Education, is a nationwide inter-schools football tournament for three age-group categories – Under-12, Under-15 and Under-18. This programme is jointly managed and organised by 100PLUS and the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM).

Tomorrow, the first of 15 state finals will kick-off in Sarawak. The leading schools from the various district level competitions in Sarawak will converge in the town of Kapit from July 12-15 to battle for the state honours. Next in line is Labuan which will hold its competition from July 14-31 with the final scheduled for Aug 5.

All 15 state champions will progress to the national finals which will take place in Kedah from Aug 23-27.

“With the World Cup just over, the action will be even more intense as these youngsters try to emulate their heroes. It will be interesting to watch these future stars of Malaysian football in action. And speaking of action, there will be lots of it as all 15 states hold their respective competitions to determine the champion schools that will participate in the national finals,” said Graham Lim, the 100PLUS Brand Manager, here today.

For the youngsters participating in this programme, 100PLUS will be the ideal drink for them especially after a strenuous game of football. “100PLUS is specially formulated to replenish body fluids, energy and electrolytes lost during the course of an active lifestyle,” explained Graham.

At the launch it was revealed that over 120,000 players are expected to compete in the 100PLUS Super Cup this year. The figures are based on an estimated 2,000 schools taking part in all three age-group competitions. As each team can register 20 players, this means each school will have 60 players in three age categories.

The under-18 state and national finals comes in the wake of the highly successful Under-15 competition which concluded in April. The Under-12 national finals will meanwhile be held from Nov 28-30 this year.