The Battle of the Giants is a football (soccer)

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 competition held every year, under the auspices of the Fiji Football Association

Fiji Football Association

The Fiji Football Association is the governing body of football in Fiji. It came into existence in 1961, replacing the ethnically based Fiji Indian Football Association...

, in Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

 in which the top district teams take part.

The competition, which started in 1978, was due to the foresight of J.D. Maharaj, who saw the competition as a way of earning money for cash starved football associations in Fiji. This was the first time that a football competition in Fiji was sponsored by businesses. The competition has been held every year except 1987, when due to restrictions placed on organised competitions on Sunday, by the military government led to all soccer competitions in Fiji being abandoned

Nature of tournament

The top 10 district teams take part in the tournament. At present these teams are Ba, Labasa, Lautoka, Nadi, Nadroga, Nasinu, Navua, Rewa, Suva and Tavua. The teams are divided into two pools of five and each team plays all the other teams once, over three days. A win is worth three points, a draw one point and a loss no points. The top two teams in each pool qualify for the semi-finals, with the winner of each pool playing the runner-up of the other pool. The semi-finals and the final are played on the same day.

Champions

Year	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Notes
1978	Ba	Nadi	Ba	1 - 0
1979	Lautoka	Ba	Rewa	4 - 2	Penalty kicks
1980	Ba	Nadi	Ba	3 - 0
1981	Lautoka	Ba	Lautoka	2 - 0
1982	Suva	Suva	Ba
Match awarded to Suva
1983	Nadi	Nadi	Lautoka	1 - 0
1984	Ba	Ba	Suva	1 - 0
1985	Suva	Lautoka	Rewa	3 - 0
1986	Nadi	Nadi	Labasa	1 - 0
1987
No competition due to coup
1988	Nadi	Suva	Ba	4 - 3	Penalty kicks
1989	Rewa	Nadroga	Nasinu	1 - 0
1990	Ba	Ba	Suva	5 - 4	Peanlity kicks
1991	Rewa	Nadroga	Nasinu	5 - 4	Penalty kicks
1992	Lautoka	Ba	Lautoka	1 - 0
1993	Rewa	Ba	Labasa	1 - 0
1994	Nadi	Rewa	Ba
Ba defaulted the Replay under Protest
1995	Suva	Suva	Navua	2 - 1
1996	Ba	Nadi	Tavua	3 - 1
1997	Labasa	Labasa	Nadi	1 - 0
1998	Nadi	Ba	Nadi	1 - 0
1999	Lautoka	Ba	Tavua	1 - 0
2000	Lautoka	Ba	Labasa	2 - 0
2001	Nadi	Ba	Lautoka	2 - 0
2002	Labasa	Nadroga	Labasa	2 - 1
2003	Lautoka	Rewa	Ba	1 - 0
2004	Ba	Rewa	Nadi	2 - 0
2005	Suva	Navua	Rewa	1-0
2006	Nadi	Ba	Suva	2 - 1
2007	Rewa	Ba	Nadi	3 - 1	Extra-Time Playoff
2008	Suva	Ba	Labasa	2 - 1
2009	Lautoka	Ba	Lautoka	1 - 0
2010	Nadi	Rewa	Navua	1 - 0
2011	Rewa	Rewa	Suva	5-0 PK

Most successful teams

Team	Number of Wins	Number of times runner-up
Ba F.C. Ba F.C. Ba F.C. is a Fijian association football team playing in the premier division of the Fiji Football Association competitions. It is based in Ba. They are nicknamed Men in Black. Their home stadium is Govind Park...	14	6
Nadi F.C.	5	4
Rewa F.C. Rewa F.C. Rewa FC is a Fijian football team playing at the top level. It is based in Nausori. Their home stadium is Vodafone Ratu Cakobau Park.- History :...	5	3
Suva F.C. Suva F.C. Suva F.C. is a Fijian football team playing in the premier division of the Fiji Football Association competitions. It is based in Suva. Their home stadium is National Stadium. Their uniform is white shirt, black shorts and black and white socks....	3	3
Nadroga F.C. Nadroga F.C. Nadroga F.C. is a football team from Fiji based in Lawaqa Park. Their uniform includes gold and blue shirt, blue shorts and gold socks.- History :...	3	0
Labasa F.C. Labasa F.C. Labasa F.C. is a Fijian football team playing in the first division of the Fiji Football Association competitions. It is based in Labasa, which is the largest town on the second largest island, Vanua Levu, in the Fiji group. Their home stadium is Subrail Park...	1	5
Lautoka F.C. Lautoka F.C. Lautoka FC is a Fijian football team playing at the top level. It is based in Lautoka. Their home stadium is Churchill Park. The Lautoka team is currently known as the Baby Blues-History:...	1	5
Navua F.C. Navua F.C. Navua F.C. is a Fijian football team playing in the first division of the Fiji Football Association competitions.They are based in Navua, which is situated on the southern side of the main island of Viti Levu, between the town of Sigatoka and the city of Suva. Their home stadium is Thomson Park....	1	2
Nasinu F.C. Nasinu F.C. Nasinu F.C. is a Fijian football team playing in the second division of the Fiji Football Association competitions. It is based in Nasinu, which is situated on the eastern side of the main island of Viti Levu, between the town of Nausori and the city of Suva. Their home stadium is Rishikul College...	0	2
Tavua F.C. Tavua F.C. Tavua F.C. is a Fijian football team playing in the first division of the Fiji Football Association competitions. It is based in Tavua, which is situated on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, between the town of Rakiraki and the town of Ba. Their home stadium is Garvey Park...	0	2

External links

• Battle Of Giants Roll of Honour
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.