Around 200 participants from Street Soccer Academies across the country competed to be crowned national champions in a tournament held at Leicester City Football Club’s training
ground.
The young adults had all recently completed the ten-week Street Soccer Academy personal
development course, and had the opportunity to represent the football club community
organisation that hosted their programme in the Street Soccer Academy National Cup.
A total of 18 teams took part in the five-a-side tournament, with some stunning goals, clever
skills and well-rehearsed teamwork played out in matches across the three groups.
Semi-finals
Teams making it through to the semi-finals were from Liverpool’s LFC Foundation, Pompey
in the Community, and two teams from Everton in the Community.
Final
The final was then played out between the two Everton teams, with Everton in the
Community ‘A’ winning the match 3-0 against Everton in the Community ‘B’ to lift the trophy.
Everton in the Community’s Jos Emanuael won the Golden Boot scoring 11 goals; Sheffield
Wednesday Community Programme took home the Fair Play Team Award; and Akram
Alawad, also representing Everton in the Community, was named Player of the Tournament.
The event was a chance for the 18 to 30-year olds, who are homeless or deemed to be at
risk of homelessness, to showcase the physical and mental skills they had developed on the
course, which covered topics including positive mindset training, mental health, employability and football training during ten weekly sessions.
The Big Goal
Spectators who attended to support the teams included colleagues from ICT companies that have sponsored Street Soccer Academies in their local area through ‘The Big Goal’, who
cheered the teams on from the sidelines.
Keith Mabbutt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Street Soccer Foundation, said:
“This year’s national finals was the biggest yet since the inception of the Street Soccer Foundation and our sincere thanks go to Leicester City for their generous hosting of the
event.
“It was humbling to see so many young people interacting and encouraging each other, and, in instances, cheering other teams on too.
“The commitment they’ve shown sees this as a wonderful reward for their achievement and I hope it can serve as a true platform to inspire as they look to now build out a more positive future for themselves.”
The teams that took part were representing Street Soccer Academies run in partnership with
the Tigers Trust, West Ham United Foundation, Liverpool’s LFC Foundation, Sheffield
Wednesday Community Programme, Everton in the Community, AFC Bournemouth
Community Sports Trust, Wycombe Wanderers FC Foundation, Derby County Community Trust, Foundation of Light, Palace For Life Foundation, Foundation 92, Chelsea FC
Foundation and Pompey in the Community.