photo from zimbio.com
For Singapore futbol supporters, Lion City Cup is nothing new. In fact, this is an U-16 tournament, starring International teams, which has been around with 34 years of history. Lion City Cup started in year 1977 as the world first U-16 tournament and eventually helped with the creation of the World Youth U-17 Championship which was held in China in year 1985.
This annual U-16 tournament unearthed many futbol talents in Singapore, such as Fandi Ahmad in the 70s, Indra Shadan in the 90s and Adam Swandi in the current time zone. I was one of the supporters flocking to the old Jalan Besar Stadium in the 90s trying to witness the unearthing of futbol talents. Back then, other than our Singapore U-15 and U-16 teams, we played teams like AIK Stockholm U-16 (Sweden), Pahang U-16 (Malaysia), Perth U-16 (Australia), HongKong U-16 and even South Korea U-16.
As we announced the arrival of modern futbol in the new 21st century, teams like Juventus U-15 (Italy), Flamengo U-15 (Brazil), Newcastle and Everton U-15 (England) graced the tournament for the first time last year! All thanks to the main organizer, Red Card, we will be watching some of the world’s best U-15 players from Manchester City (England), Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands), Boca Juniors (Argentina), Porto (Portugal) and of course our very own Singapore U-15 and U-16 teams!
Flamengo in training last year
How excited can that be! I was involved in the last episode of the Canon Lions City Cup as a coach trainee. Not only I was able to catch how the Singapore teams trained, I managed to learn from the Brazilian’s training too. By watching the youngsters’ play, it did motivate me to do more for futbol!
So guys, mark these dates down on your calendar, 23 June – 1 July 2012, Jalan Besar Stadium (Singapore). Do join us in Singapore to catch some of the world’s best youngsters in action! And you know what, some of them will be representing their countries at the highest level! Mark my word.
For more information, please log on to www.lioncitycup.com
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