Unity Through Football (UTF) won the Copa Simha Under-12 youth football tournament, with Renown Football Academy (RFA) as runners-up, beating them 3-2 in a sharp final.

COLOMBO – Unity Through Football (UTF) took the title at the Copa Simha Under-12 youth football tournament. Renown Football Academy (RFA) finished as runners-up.

Played at the D.S. Senanayake College ground in Colombo over the weekend, the final was a sharp contest that UTF edged 3-2 against RFA.

The tournament’s top scorer was M.S.M. Pisari of UTF, who scored four goals. RFA’s Danish player Ferdinand Storyberg was named the most valuable player of the tournament.

UTF and RFA reached the final by beating Gateway College (GC) and Football Lab Academy (FLA) in the semi-finals. UTF beat GC 3-0, while RFA beat FLA 1-0.

In the third-place match, GC defeated FLA 1-0.

LSR, which successfully stages international events such as the Colombo Marathon, the Sri Lanka T-Cup road cycling race and the Rumble in the Jungle mountain bike championship, and plays a prominent role in Sri Lanka’s sports-tourism sector, organised this first youth football tournament. Fourteen international schools, government schools, football clubs and football academies took part with great enthusiasm.

The 2026 Copa Simha trophy and medal presentation was headed by Lanka Sportreizen founder chairman Thilak Weerasinghe. Attending were Selva Panneerselvam, tournament director of the Singapore Simha Cup, the main tournament of the Simha Cup series, LSR chief executive officer D.K.R. Dharmapala and event manager Ryan Fernando.

By Warnan Gunasekara, sports reporter, The Leader

Source: The Leader (translated from Sinhala)

Article Link: https://theleader.lk/sports/40822-lsr-copa-simha-unity-through-football