Football Mini World Cup to take place at Racecourse today

The first ever “Mini Football World Cup” will take place at the Racecourse grounds this afternoon with over 100 boys and girls from across the country set to take part. Organised by the Thaabit Ahmed Football Academy (TAFA) in association with the German Embassy and the Egidius-Braun Foundation of the DFB (German Football Federation), the tournament, which will take place from 1pm - 6pm, will see 8 teams from Jaffna, Gampaha, Negombo and Colombo competing.

Each team will comprise Under-16 players and will be sponsored by the Embassies of Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Brazil, France and USA. The matches will be 12 minute affairs between seven-a-side teams. TAFA will be providing coaches for each of the teams. 

The winning team will receive a signed jersey from the all-conquering German Women’s National Team along with a championship trophy, while there will also be a trophy each handed out to the best girls and boys player. The German football club Borussia Dortmund has also sent goodie bags for all the teams in lieu of them being unable to send representatives for the tournament.

TAFA is a privately run football academy which trains youngsters spanning six different age groups ranging from 3 to 18 years of age. TAFA founder and CEO Thaabit Ahmed has previously spoken of his aim to change the face of Sri Lankan football with his academy, and through his efforts this is now the third collaboration with the German Embassy in Sri Lanka.

In 2016, youths in Jaffna participated in TAFA coaching clinics followed by a ‘German Embassy Tournament,’ while earlier this year more than 4000 children in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu enjoyed football games and activities when visited by the ‘German Buzzzz’ - a cultural and sports tour - and TAFA.

“For us, it’s an honour that the German Embassy has identified us as a reliable partner to work with. This project is sort of like a culmination of the previous two. The initial idea was to invite some teams from Jaffna from last year to come to Colombo and play, but then we had the Ambassador’s idea of bringing a world cup feel to it,” explained Ahmed.

“So all these ideas put together ended up in hosting the teams at the Racecourse - where TAFA trains - and then bring in, for a start, eight teams and hopefully expand from their in the future. They’re also multiethnic; there are Tamil, Sinhalese, Christian and Muslim teams. It’s a diverse project.”

German Ambassador Jörn Rohde meanwhile spoke of how he felt football was rightfully dubbed ‘the beautiful game,’ due to its low-cost barriers to entry - only a ball - and how simple it was to pick up as a sport.

“Football is the world’s most popular team game and our event will surely contribute to increase its presence in Sri Lanka. It will also bring children from different parts of the country to experience team spirit and lots of fun this coming Saturday,” he added.

“When I was in Indonesia we had a German football coach training the Indonesian youth national teams, we’ve been doing this for decades now all over the world. So foreign policy is not always politics, sometimes it’s simply supporting football structures around the world.”

The corporate sponsors for the tournament providing footballs, food and beverage for the teams are DIMO, Hilton Hotel Colombo, Elephant House and Nestlé.

Pix by Lasantha Kumar