The Bachar Houli Cup was won by Coburg Australian International Academy (AIA) at JJ Holland Reserve, in Kensington on Wednesday.

The AIA played Fawkner Darul Ulum College in the Grand Final of the Bachar Houli Cup, a program which aims to engage young Muslim men in Australian Rules Football.

The program started in 2012 with only Victorian schools participating, however, in just one year, the Bachar Houli Cup is now a national program.

Throughout August and September, the Bachar Houli Cup has been running as an ongoing tournament in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.

As well as engaging the Islamic community in AFL, the program aims to celebrate cultural diversity, provide the participants with a positive AFL and cultural role model, and identify potential AFL talent.

“Congratulations to AIA, and all of the participants of the Bachar Houli Program.  I really love being part of it, and meeting the students who I know love participating,” said Houli.

“For me, being a footballer is about giving back to my community, and through my AFL multicultural programs, I get to do just that.”

Houli’s programs engage around 5000 students nationally, and his next project will be the Bachar Houli Academy, an extensive five-day training program, run at the ME Bank Centre at Punt Road Oval.

Some of the participants of the Academy will be selected from the Bachar Houli Cup, and chosen for their football and leadership skills.

To find out more about Bachar Houli’s multicultural programs, visit his personal website.

Bachar Houli Cup grand final results:
Grand final: AIA 17.15.117 defeated Fawkner Darul Ulum College 2.1.13
AIA MVP – Imran Noureddine
Darul Ulum MVP – Bilal Atik