The Dubai Summer Open for Football Academies, the largest tournament of its kind in the region, concluded with great success with Barcelona and Empire FC Blue hogging the limelight.
Organised by the Dubai Sports Council and the UAE Football Association, in cooperation with Delta Sports Events – the tournament’s operational partner – the football extravaganza for juniors aims to enhance the Council’s efforts to attract and develop emerging sports talent, while implementing its policy that was launched in implementing the Dubai Government’s directives to attract and develop talent in all disciplines.
More than 12,000 male and female players, representing 500 teams from various government and private academies and clubs, participated in a true festive competition with the final matches being held at the Dubai Police Officers Club.
Participation from spectators too was huge with more than 10,000 soaking in some exciting junior football on the final day of this gala event.
Doing well for themselves was Dubai’s Al Nasr Club after winning the top spots in the under-8 and under-10 categories.
But it was the Barcelona Academy teams that shone bright with wins in the under-10, under-13, under-15, under-16and under-19 categories, while also registering triumphs in the under-11, under-15 and under-17 cups.
Empire FC Blue was another academy doing well after triumphs in the under-12, under-14 and under-16 girls’crowns along with the under-14 boys’ title.
AFC won the under-7 gold title, DFC won the under-9 gold title, Arabian Strikers won the under-11 gold title, La Liga won the under-12 gold title, All Stars won the under-14 gold title, and Blue Star won the under-16 gold title.
The best was kept for the last with the teams from Reds Academy walking away with the under-21 and under-23 titles.
Given this ideal platform, local players also shone bright with the UAE Football Association (UAE FA) stars helping themselves to several individual awards, including Nia Al Mahmood (Best Player of the Tournament in the under-12 category) and Zareen Marwa Fayez (Best Goalkeeper in the under-12 category).
Nivea Saiman also impressed with the Best Player of the Final in the under-14s, while Elena Khoshbin was named Best Goalkeeper. In the Under-16 category, Maysa Ben Younes won the Best Player of the Final.
In the boys’ category, Karam Arian of Al Nasr Club won the Best Player of the Tournament (Gold Category), and in the Under-9 category (Gold Category) it was Wissam Ali Al Manqoush of Al Wasl Club winning the Best Player of the Tournament.
An ideal platform
The Dubai Open Football Academies Championship has affirmed its position as one of the most important football events dedicated to attracting, discovering and developing emerging talent. It seeks to strengthen the base of talented players to support clubs and national teams in the future.
The championship has witnessed increasing growth with each edition, with the number of participants this year increasing by more than 120 per cent compared to last year, reflecting the growing interest in developing football at the academy level.
The championship has become an ideal platform for attracting football talent. Since its launch in 2017, the championship has attracted teams from prominent international academies, such as FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Ajax Amsterdam, Juventus, Manchester City, and others. This has provided local players with the opportunity to interact with talent from various international footballing schools.
Talent Spotting
As part of the development of the championship, collaborations were made with international companies specializing in talent discovery and monitoring. Talent Sport filmed the matches and analyzed player performance, while Athletic BCN oversaw player development through a state-of-the-art talent lab.
Talent scouts were also present at all matches to select the most promising players and include them in the Talent Club, thus enhancing their chances of aspiring to become professional footballers in the future.
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