The 2025 Sec­ondary Schools Foot­ball League’s (SS­FL) cer­e­mo­ni­al sea­son-open­er will be a grudge match be­tween two-time de­fend­ing Boys’ Pre­mier Di­vi­sion cham­pi­ons Fa­ti­ma Col­lege and Co­ca-Co­la In­ter-Col na­tion­al ti­tle-hold­ers St Bene­dict’s Col­lege on Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 12, at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo, from 5.30 pm.

At the con­clu­sion of the 2024 SS­FL cam­paign, the then Hut­son Charles-coached Fa­ti­ma Col­lege (38 points) was of­fi­cial­ly recog­nised as the League cham­pi­ons, thus re­tain­ing the ti­tle they won in 2023. Mean­while, Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do (35 points) was the run­ner-up, with St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege (33 points), third.

This was af­ter the SS­FL ruled that its 2024 top scor­er Der­rell “Zum Zum” Gar­cia was not a bona fide stu­dent at St Bene­dict’s Col­lege when he played four match­es at the be­gin­ning of the 2024 sea­son.

Based on the rul­ing, the un­beat­en “La Ro­maine Li­ons” were docked 12 points while be­ing de­mot­ed from first to fourth place, with 29 points.

The rul­ing con­firmed that St Bene­dict’s was stripped of vic­to­ries against San Juan North Sec­ondary (1-0), Fa­ti­ma Col­lege (3-1), St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege (2-1), and Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege (2-1).

Gar­cia and his St Bene­dict’s Col­lege man­aged to ex­act re­venge on Fa­ti­ma Col­lege in the fi­nal match of the sea­son when they de­feat­ed the Mu­cu­rapo Road team by a 2-0 mar­gin in the Co­ca-Co­la Boys Na­tion­al In­ter-Col fi­nal at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va, for their third na­tion­al ti­tle.

Two hours be­fore the Sep­tem­ber 12 sea­son-open­er be­tween the SS­FL Pre­mier Di­vi­sion League champs against the In­ter­col cham­pi­ons, the SS­FL’s Girls’ sea­son-open­ing en­counter sees Pleas­antville Sec­ondary, the na­tion­al Girls Big-Five cham­pi­ons, come up against Girls In­ter-Col ti­tle-hold­ers St Joseph’s Con­vent at the same venue from 3.30pm.

Last year, St Joseph’s Con­vent PoS (SJC) se­cured the SS­FL Co­ca-Co­la Girls’ na­tion­al In­ter-Col with a 5-3 penal­ty-kicks win over pre-match favourites Pleas­antville Sec­ondary School af­ter a 1-1 draw in reg­u­la­tion time at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va.

How­ev­er, Pleas­antville Sec­ondary, which al­so won the South Zone Girls In­ter-Col fi­nal, had much bet­ter for­tune in the Girls Big-Five fi­nal with a 3-0 spank­ing of Five Rivers Sec­ondary in the ti­tle match at the same Cou­va venue.

This year’s 16-team SS­FL Boys Pre­mier Di­vi­sion will fea­ture three pro­mot­ed teams Trin­i­ty Col­lege Mo­ka, Cara­pichaima East Sec­ondary and Scar­bor­ough Sec­ondary, join­ing Fa­ti­ma, St Bene­dict’s, Trin­i­ty Col­lege East, St Au­gus­tine Sec­ondary, Mal­ick Sec­ondary, San Juan North Sec­ondary, Sig­nal Hill Sec­ondary, St Mary’s Col­lege, Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege, Na­pari­ma Col­lege, Ari­ma North Sec­ondary, St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege, and Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege of San Fer­nan­do.

Fol­low­ing the cer­e­mo­ni­al open­er, the first full round of match­es in the SS­FL Pre­mier Di­vi­sion is sched­uled for Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 13, with on­ly Fa­ti­ma, St Bene­dict’s, St An­tho­ny’s, and Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege San Fer­nan­do not in ac­tion.

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege will kick off its bid for a third straight SS­FL Boys’ Pre­mier Di­vi­sion ti­tle away to Scar­bor­ough Sec­ondary on Wednes­day, Sep­tem­ber 17, while St Bene­dict’s Col­lege will be at home to Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege in their first league match on the same day. The 15th and fi­nal round of SS­FL match­es in the new sea­son is card­ed for No­vem­ber 4.

2025 SS­FL sea­son open­ers:

Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 12:

Venue: Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo

Girls: St Joseph’s Con­vent (PoS) vs Pleas­antville Sec­ondary, 3.30 pm

Boys: Fa­ti­ma Col­lege vs St Bene­dict’s Col­lege, 5.30 pm

SS­FL Boys Pre­mier Di­vi­sion Round One:

Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 13:

All match­es kick off at 3.30 pm

Trin­i­ty Col­lege Mo­ka vs Cara­pichaima East, Trin­i­ty Col­lege, Mo­ka,

St Au­gus­tine Sec vs Mal­ick Sec, St Au­gust Sec Grd, War­ren Street

San Juan North Sec vs Sig­nal Hill Sec, San Juan North Sec, Bourg Mu­la­tresse

St Mary’s Col­lege vs Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege, St Mary’s Col­lege Grd, St Clair

Na­pari­ma Col­lege vs Trin­i­ty Col­lege East, Lewis Street, San F’do

Scar­bor­ough Sec vs Ari­ma North Sec, Scar­bor­ough Sec. Grd, Scar­bor­ough

Resched­uled:

Oc­to­ber 25:

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege vs Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, Fa­ti­ma Collge Grd, Mu­cu­rapo Road,

St Bene­dict’s Col­lege vs St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege, Venue to be ad­vised.