The Petra Organisation’s KFC International Goodwill Under-18 Schools Football tournament will return in December with an eight-team field, as Barbados joins the regional competition for its seventh edition.

Scheduled for December 13-20, the tournament will again bring together leading school teams from Guyana and across the region, with matches set for the Ministry of Education Ground and Queen’s College Ground in Georgetown. Petra had identified the December 13-20 window earlier this year as part of its 2026 football calendar.

The participating teams will be divided into two groups of four, with each school playing the other three teams in its group once before the competition moves into the knockout phase.

Defending champions Chase’s Academic Foundation will lead Guyana’s challenge. The other local berths will be filled by a Region Nine school and a qualifying team from the Republic Bank Under-18 School Football League.

Trinidad and Tobago will be represented by Naparima College, while Excelsior High School will carry Jamaica’s challenge. Brazil’s representative will be Escola Estadual Indígena Koko Isabel Macuxi, an Indigenous school from the Enseada community in Uiramutã, Roraima. The school has an established football programme and won its regional phase of the 2025 Roraima School Games. Prefeitura Municipal de Uiramutã

Barbados’ representative is still to be decided, with the winner of the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Football League set to earn the trip to Guyana. The BSSFL operates established secondary-school competitions on the island.

Suriname’s place will similarly go to the winner of its school football competition.

Representatives of Naparima College, Excelsior High School, Barbados, Brazil and Suriname were part of the launch of the 2026 tournament, which was held at the Cara Lodge Hotel.

Petra Organisation Co-Director Troy Mendonca said the tournament has developed considerably from its inaugural staging in 2018, when just four teams competed. That first edition featured three Guyanese schools and Trinidad and Tobago’s Shiva Boys Hindu College in a league format.

Mendonca said the growth of the competition reflected Petra’s aim of giving young players an international platform while allowing them to represent their schools and countries.

He noted that players are given an opportunity on the field to express their talent while developing discipline and teamwork. According to Mendonca, the competition has also served as a springboard for young footballers, with several former participants later progressing to represent Guyana at the national level.

Special thanks were extended to title sponsor KFC Guyana for its continued confidence and investment in the programme. Mendonca also acknowledged the support of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and Ministry of Education, which he said demonstrated the shared interest in youth development through sport.

The international tournament has expanded steadily since its four-team beginning and has become one of Petra’s major annual programmes. The 2025 edition also featured eight teams and ended with Chase’s Academic Foundation successfully defending their title by defeating Trinidad and Tobago’s St Benedict’s College 5-4 on penalties following a scoreless final. The victory made Chase the first school to retain the KFC Goodwill crown.

Away from the football field, Petra will again place emphasis on cultural exchange.

The tournament’s Culture Night is scheduled for December 14 and will allow participating schools to showcase their respective countries through traditional songs, dances and clothing. This year, the programme will be expanded to include food from the different participating countries.

The tournament will officially get underway with a march past on December 13.

Mendonca described the KFC Goodwill competition as one of Petra’s marquee programmes and said the organisation intends to deliver the 2026 edition at a high standard, with the aim of making the experience memorable for the players, officials, supporters and fans.