KARACHI, Dec 20 The 4th edition of the Karachi United Schools Championship (KUSC) kicks off with Karachi Grammar School (KGS) taking on Southshore School here at the DHA Stadium on Monday.

KUSC 2008-09 will once again feature 16 top school teams in Karachi vying for the right to be called the best school football team. The 15 other schools will be looking to end the hegemony of KGS, who are the defending champions and the only team to have lifted the champions' trophy since the inception of the event.

At the draw for the event held at the Southshore auditorium, tournament Directors Obaid Khwaja and Furkan Ali stressed that KUSC was one of the core events stage by the club for promotion of football at the grassroots.

Furkan Ali further stated “KUSC had been a forum not only for schools to showcase their combined talent but also an event from which clubs, such as KU, look to shortlist quality talent.”

Obaid informed that KU had received unprecedented entries for this edition of the event and whilst initially a qualifying round had also been planned, due to various schools expressing their inability to compete in the same, the 16 had been picked based on performances over the last three editions of the event while also providing opportunities to some new outfits.

The draw for the event was conducted by former KGS skipper and current KU defender, Moiz Salahuddin and KU midfielder Usman Iqbal. The four seeded teams — KGS; St Patrick's High School; Army Public School, Malir and Foundation Public School — and 12 other teams were divided into four groups.

The round robin matches will be staged between Dec 22 and 31 with the quarter-finals and semi-finals scheduled for January 10, 11 and 15. The grand finale featuring the final and a third-place playoff will be held on Jan 17. All matches will be held at the DHA Stadium.

Details regarding trials to select players for KU reserves to be held in the last week of December will be posted on the club's website www.karachiunitedfc.com

Draws

Group 'A' KGS, Southshore School, Civilization Public School, Bayview High School.

Group 'B' St. Patrick's High School, Education Bay, Beaconhouse Gulshan, BVS Parsi High School.

Group 'C' Army Public School, Lyceum, City School - PAF, Avicenna.

Group 'D' Foundation Public School, Beaconhouse - Jubilee, DA Model High School, Generations School.

Monday's fixtures

Karachi Grammar School v Southshore School at 800am; Civilization Public School v Bayview High School at 915am; St Patrick's High School v Education Bay at 1045am; Beaconhouse Gulshan v BVS Parsi High School at 200pm.—Agencies