Gothia Cup

The Gothia Cup (Swedish pronunciation: [ɡuːtɪa ˈkɵpː]) is an international youth association football tournament organized by professional football club BK Häcken, which has been held annually since 1975 in Gothenburg, Sweden, a copy of Norway Cup started 1972. Considered the biggest tournament in the world in terms of participating teams,[1][2] competing youth teams throughout the world enter the competition. The Gothia Cup is also Sweden's largest annual event. The Jamie Johnson (TV series) in Series 4 shows Phoenix FC competing in the Gothia Cup. [2]

Gothia Cup
Founded1975
RegionSwedia
Number of teams1700 teams
Websitehttp://www.gothiacup.se/

Overview
The opening ceremony and finals are held at Ullevi, Gothenburg.

Spanning one week the Gothia Cup is a youth association football tournament held annually in Gothenburg, Sweden, open for both boys and girls of ages 11 to 18. In terms of participants, it is the world's second largest football tournament with only the Norway Cup being bigger. In 2017, 1730 teams from 82 nations participated.

The Gothia Cup started in 1975 with 275 participating teams. In July each year, the event becomes the dominant event in Gothenburg, with (as of 2017) 4,349 games played on 110 fields, and 300,000 visitors to the center in Heden. According to the tourist authorities of Gothenburg, the 2006 Gothia Cup generated 282 million Swedish krona in tourist income for Gothenburg city and 118 million krona in tax income for Sweden.

Teams compete from across the world; such as from Brazil, United Arab Emirates and the Czech Republic.

In 2020, for the first time since the tournament's inaugural season, the tournament was not held, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden.

Gothia Cup China

The concept of Gothia Cup was exported to China in the 2010s.[3] From 2016, the Gothia Cup had a sister tournament in Shenyang, China, known as the Gothia Cup China.[4] The first Gothia Cup China began between 13–19 August 2016. At the newly built Gothia Cup Football park the Tournament saw 250 participating teams from 20 nations.

Famous participants

This list includes notable players who played in Gothia Cup in their youth and later had been playing for their national teams.[5][6][7][8]

Controversies

Sexual harassment

In the 2016 tournament, a team from Morocco[9][10] was rejected from the Cup after its team members including its 36-year-old manager and about 30 boys from other teams sexually harassed three 16-year-old girls as crowds were exiting after the opening ceremony.[10] The 36-year-old was sentenced to two months in prison and to pay damages to each of the three victims by the District Court.[11] The other assailants could not be identified.[9]

Age cheating

The Under 18 competition in 2013 was won by Kampala Junior Team[12][13] from Uganda who defeated GAIS 5–2 after penalties[14] with the assistance of over-age players. The triumphant Kampala side fielded KCCA FC goalkeeper Jamal Salim[15][16] and midfielder Gaddafi Kiwanuka albeit without knowledge of their Lugogo employers. Salim, a Ugandan international player, changed his name to Omar Magoola and made an immense contribution in the finals by saving two penalties.[17][18] Besides Salim and Kiwanuka, Ssali Edris Tamale, a third year student at Nkumba University, also featured for the side. He is reported to have changed his identity by changing his name from 'Tamale' to 'Yamale' in the new passport he acquired. Another age cheat in this squad is identified as Eriasa Sserwadda, a graduate from Nkumba University.[17]

See also

References
  1. "World's largest youth soccer cup gets underway in Gothenburg". www.sverigesradio.se. SR International – Radio Sweden. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  2. "Gothia Cup 2018". Goteborg.com. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  3. "Gothia Cup - Gothia Cup on export to China". 26 September 2015. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015.
  4. "Gothia Cup China » 2019, Qingdao".
  5. "Visste du att… - Gothia Cup". Gothiacup.se. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  6. "All Star Team - Gothia Cup". Gothiacup.se. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  7. Erik Ternebornerik.terneborn@gt.se (2012-07-16). "Gothia Cup har växt ur sin kostym | GT". Expressen.se. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2013-05-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Hemidach, Amjad (25 July 2016). "Moroccan Youth Football Team Disqualified for Sexually Assaulting Swedish Girls". Morocco World News. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  10. Löfgren, Emma (21 July 2016). "Adult boss 'groped girls' at Swedish kids' football cup". the local. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  11. Ekstedt Larsson, Sanna; Nordén, Sofia (4 August 2016). "Fängelse för Gothia-cup ledaren". Nyheter - Väst. Sveriges Television. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  12. "Kampala Junior Team". Beyond Sport World. Archived from the original on 2014-02-17. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  13. "Gothia Cup 2013". Kampala Junior Team. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  14. "Gothia Cup - Finals". Gothia Cup. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  15. "Kampala Junior Team On Verge Of Gothia Cup Glory". Chimpreport. 2013-07-19. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  16. "Kampala side wins Gothia Cup". Daily Monitor. 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  17. "Age Cheats: KJT use over-age players in Gothia and Tivoli Cups". Kawowo Sports. 2013-07-31. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  18. "Age Cheats: Jamal Salim, Kiwanuka feature for KJT U-18 in Go". News Kenya. 2013-07-31. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.