Football’s stars of tomorrow will begin their bids to compete in the first-ever Mina Cup, as the tournament postponed last year, gets underway from the 9th – 11th April at the JA Sports Centre & Shooting Club supported by Dubai Sports Council.
Established with the goal of becoming the world’s leading youth football tournament, the Mina Cup will give a stage to top class talent from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa & the Americas.
The inaugural edition of the tournament, which will include 32 teams across four age groups (U12, U14, U16, U18) including 24 UAE private academies who qualified through competition in November, will see them compete against some of the leading youth set ups from across the world.
Wolves from England, Pumas from Mexico, Sturm Graz from Austria are just some of the teams taking part in a competition embracing technology in football with the partners who have been secured.
An opening Ceremony at the JA Resort featuring Mina Cup Ambassador Teddy Sheringham & ARN Head of Sport Chris McHardy will give players & coaches an incredible evening to start the tournament off.
JA Resorts & Hotels, Umbro, Lacnor, Oasis Water, Coffee Planet, Socaloca, and Mediclinic have signed up as official partners and the competition will be filmed by AI camera company Pixellot and players statistics will be fed back to them in the shape of trend reports so coaches and players can monitor their progress with GG8 analytics.
Supporters and families who won’t be able to watch from the sidelines – or just want to enjoy the best of the action again – can see it on ground-breaking sports video platform Recast. Tournament organisers have partnered with the UK-based platform to bring exclusive match highlights, interviews and behind the scenes content direct from the qualifiers.
Goal.com acts as the tournaments Media Partners exposing the matches and players to the millions who follow their channels as the biggest football media platform in the world.
Chris Brown, Mina Cup founder, said: “We are delighted to be bringing together some of the world’s most promising youth footballers to begin the journey to the MINA Cup, starting with the local qualifiers.
“We believe this tournament can earn its place as the premier global youth football competition, building on the success of the likes of the Super Cup in Northern Ireland and Gothia Cup in Sweden. With the first-class facilities and appetite for the sport in the UAE, it can be a real springboard, giving local teams the chance to go up against international counterparts.
“I am excited to see the players compete and hopefully see them go onto have careers in the game and for fans all over to get closer to the action and support the up-and-coming stars at their clubs through our partnership with the top-class technology and media companies we have onboarded.
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