အာဖရိက ေဘာလံုးသမား ၅ ေယာက္ျမန္မာကလပ္ေတြနဲ႔သေဘာတူညီမွုရျပီ

YANGON, March 24 (Xinhua) -- A local private professional soccer club, the Yadanarpon FC, which will enter the Myanmar National League Cup in May, has agreed with five African players to be included in its squad, local media reported on Tuesday.

The Yadanarpon FC has already agreed with three Cote d'Ivoire players and two Senegal players to play for the club, the First Eleven sports journal said.

The club not only has called goalkeeper Yin Min Aung from the premier club, Yangon City Development Committee, with a transfer fee of 1.5 million kyats (about 1,500 US dollars) and a salary of 500,000 kyats (about 500 dollars) but also is trying to call some local famous soccer players for the team, it added.

The Yadanarpon FC has already hired French coach Rohan and the Belgium technical director Robert for the club since early this month and the calling of all the local players essential for the club is targeted to complete in March and the camping of the players will start on April 1, the club's owner Sai Sam Tun said earlier.

He allocated a fund of 500 million kyats (about 500,000 dollars) for the expenditure of the club for one year.

The Yadanarpon FC will give a salary of 1.5 million kyats (about 1,500 dollars) for a foreign player and 500,000 kyats (about 500 dollars) for a local player, Sai Sam Tun said at a press conference on transformation of Myanmar football to professional one earlier this month.

Myanmar to hold National League Cup soccer tournament in May this year, participated by eight local professional clubs, as its first introduction of professional soccer in the country.

It will be the first tournament of transformation of Myanmar football to a professional one, in which up to five foreign professional players will be allowed for the first time to include in each squad.

The Myanmar National League Cup soccer tournament will be held in two zones, upper Myanmar and lower Myanmar, with four local professional clubs each in one zone. The matches for the upper Myanmar zone will feature in central Mandalay and those for the lower Myanmar zone in the former capital of Yangon with home and away system.

Kanbawza FC, Yadanarpon FC, Magway FC and Zeya Shwe Myay FC will be included in the upper Myanmar zone, while Yangon United FC, Southern Myanmar FC, Okkthar United FC and Delta United FC in lower Myanmar zone.

The top two teams each from the two zones will appear in the semifinals of the Myanmar National League Cup, which will have to play home and away basis in Yangon and Mandalay, while the champion of the League Cup will be decided with only one match in Yangon.

Meanwhile, the points-system Myanmar National League soccer tournament will be introduced in January 2010, participated by the eight local professional clubs.

Initially invested by local entrepreneurs, the eight professional clubs will make preparation for the next-year Myanmar National League from March to December this year and the professional clubs will be increased up to 12 in 2011