PRESS RELEASE

SUNDAY 27TH MAY 2012 – “Believe in your Dreams” is the message that each edition of the Danone Nations Cup sends to children throughout the world, whether they come from a huge city in Mexico, a small village in China or within the neighbourhood of the bustling city of Singapore.

To give every child in Singapore the opportunity to believe in their dreams, the Danone Nations Cup Singapore final is open to every boy and girl between 10 and 12 in the country.

Danone Nations Cup Singapore organizer Yusliza Jamri talked on the event.

For the first time ever Singapore is participating in the Danone Nations Cup and we want to give the opportunity of participating to every child in the country. Sport at a young age is about building the illusion and giving Singapore the chance of competing in a world cup at such an early age. This event will open up a great path and makes every young children in Singapore realises that you can participate and compete with the rest of the world.

Football in Singapore should be much more than the Sleague, Malaysia Cup and Suzuki Cup, and the only way we can make it so is to give every child the opportunity and experience of competing in the biggest youth event at a young age. And for the Danone Nations Cup is absolutely perfect, being endorsed by FIFA it is the World Cup for kids. We need to be opening the eyes of every Singaporean child that they can reach a higher level than South-East Asia as young as possible.

FIFA has the World Cup at full international age category, the Under-20 World Cup and the Under-16 World Cup. For all of these each country must qualify and for Singapore it is a bridge too far at this stage. But at Under-12, FIFA had no World Cup so Danone agreed with FIFA to create the Danone Nations Cup at this age category, and open to only 40 lucky countries around the World every year. It is a very big deal, in Uruguay for example the President has declared their national final an event of national interest, and in the other 39 countries participating it has received full support from the countries Ministries and Football Associations.

We would like to invite and involve as many children as possible in Singapore to participate. We are holding the national final over the June school holidays. The winner will be taking part in an all paid expenses World Finals in Poland in September. This opportunity given will be a memory of a lifetime for the children as they get to travel, learn more about the host country, to play (football) in a great renown stadium, which is the same one that will be used in the upcoming EURO 2012 and of course best of all to meet and make friends with the participants from the other 39 nations. This is indeed living up to your dreams if you believe in it.

Everyone participates in the competition completely free and even the National finals next month in Singapore will be free to attend. We really believe the Danone Nations Cup Singapore will be an important event every year in Singapore´s football calender and the one we can use as a foundation into building the country's football culture.

There is a lot of talk about Vision2030, well now it is time to see if it is just a buzz word being used or has action behind it. Because for us, Vision2030 with the Danone Nations Cup Singapore is already here.”

The registration period for the teams taking part in the National final is officially open to all U12 teams across the country, including academies, schools and club sides for the week from Monday 21st May until Friday 25th May.

To participate, the child has to be born between 1st January 2000 and 31stDecember 2001 and has to be a Singaporean, as it will be a National team.

The National Final tournament will consist of 8 teams and played over two days with the final day confirmed for 17th June 2012. One of the eight teams participating at the National Finals will be the team from the hosts of the National Final´s and one will be a wild card team. The other six sides will be applicants through the registration period this week. If there are more than the required number of teams registered, a qualifying matches will be held to get the top 6 spots in the National Final.

The winner of the Singapore National Final will be the team that represents Singapore at the Danone Nations Cup Final in Poland later this year.

The National Finals will be a 2 day event consisting of 8 teams. We can confirm that the final will take place on the 17th June and be hosted in Woodlands.

Woodlands CCC has been very supportive of the event every step of the way and we are looking to give the event a community feel with a different host community every year who input their local flavour on that year's National final.”

To prepare the winning team for the World Final, there is also a training camp scheduled from the period between the National Final winner being named and departure for the World Final´s in Poland.

Concluding on the training camp intended for the winners Yusliza concluded, “ During the training period for the team that will represent Singapore in Poland, we will have some current and former professional players to drop by their training sessions to contribute some valuable tips and lessons for the children. The appearances of these players will be a unique experience for the kids.

However we do know that winning is not a must for the kids as its the participation in this great world football event is the utmost importance.”

To receive more and frequent updates on Danone Nations Cup Singapore, please do visit www.danonenationscup.sg and everyone can also be interactive on its facebook page

For teams looking to participate send in your applications

and any other quiries can be directed to Mr. Miguel Valls at [email protected]

About Dr Fútbol

Dr Futbol, established in 2011, is a branded football youth development company specialized in improving football from a grassroot´s level in South-East Asia. With offices in Singapore and Spain we are dedicated in bridging Asian and European football, creating a platform for young talents to be discovered, improve and advance as far as they can.

Photos

Photos from the 2011 finals at the following link

 

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