Middle East football invaded Singapore recently, participating in the inaugural Copa Singapura organized by Kirkwall Sports Academy, proudly sponsored by Dynamique Konzepts!
Rawdhat FC sent in their troops, the U-16 and U-18 teams, which saw their newly-formed U-16 young representatives bringing home the Championship trophy! Not only did the UAE-based team showed what they were capable of doing on the pitch, off the pitch, they were mesmerizing all the audiences and other teams with their number-1 fan, special guest appearance from the founder of Street King, the world greatest street soccer player, Edward Van Gils, demonstrating the art of street soccer, together with Rawdhat FC’s head coach, Khalid Hamdaoui!
If you think the appearance of Edward Van Gils’ was stunning, Cristiano Ronaldo’s and Nani’s manager, Jorge Mendes and Singapore Number-1 football supporter/Billionaire, Mr. Peter Lim, were also the Guests of Honor at the Copa Singapura Award Presentation!
The appearances of the above mentioned Guests of Honor were indeed a crowd puller but the show was never taken away from the Middle East’s young players, as they showed their opponents from Japan, Indonesia and Singapore how football was played with their cosmopolitan football culture in Rawdhat.
One of the outstanding players, Rawdhat FC U-16 Captain & UAE National U-16 hopeful, Saif Al Hameli, cited the humility of the weather did affect their games but the overall experience of playing in Singapore was extremely pleasant.
When asked about Rawdhat’s football and his ambition, he explained, “We are trained to play Total Football under the guidance of coach Khalid. Although the team is formed for just a year, we are enjoying some good football. And my dream is to play for UAE National Team when I grow up. But for now, I will have to concentrate on my study first.”
Copa Singapura ended with a big bang on last Sunday where the event was graced by many former Singapore Internationals. It’s hard not to notice many good and young players are emerging from the tournament. Junpiter Futbol saw them over last weekend, you could be seeing them in their respective National Team’s uniforms the next weekend.
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