EACH summer the streets of Gothenburg swell with influxes of young footballers, all with their eyes on the ultimate prize of what has been dubbed the Youth World Cup, this is of course the Gothia Cup.
The residents of the Swedish city have gotten used to the crowds arriving to watch and play in the event, with many deciding to go on holiday that same week in July to escape the chaos that descends on the streets.
Just last year there was a total of 1878 teams entered into the tournament from 69 different nations, which emphasises the size of the competition along with the number of people it attracts to Gothenburg.
This tournament has previously featured the likes of Xabi Alonso, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alan Shearer and continues to showcase the brightest young talents year on year, with Mohammed Kudus being the latest high-profile alumni.
Teams that compete range from those at Under 11’s level all the way up to Under 18’s where the standard and competitiveness reach its peak.
Just like in the official World Cup, teams are entered into a group stage where they face three other sides in the first three days of the event.
From here onwards the top teams will progress to knockout stages, with the others entering a plate tournament for the rest of the week, with everyone having their eyes on a trophy.
The joy of this tournament for the young athletes is not only the size and scale that I’ve touched upon, but also the fact that day after day you are competing against the best from all around the world whether that be from Singapore or even the beaches of Brazil.
Some sides have learnt the trick of dominating at the event with Ghanaian side ‘Right to Dream’ winning their seventh title last year, making it five cup wins in a row.
They draw in huge crowds each year to their games with everyone wanting to watch the champions at work in the Swedish city.
There is something so unique about this event, partly down to the immense passion for football on show, but also the togetherness that it creates amongst the young people and for an event this size to get such little media coverage shocks me.
Will it grow this year? Of course it will! But will this be the year that the tournament finally becomes a recognizable name in the UK and across the world…. well let’s see if we can win it and do just that.
