Aspire Academy players and officials celebrates during the prize distribution ceremony after winning the Tri-Series football tournament in Doha.
In a series of hotly contested matches played on Aspire’s grounds last week, Aspire Academy’s U11 Feeder football team topped the table in the latest Tri-Series football tournament, after securing a 2-1 win against Tunisian team, Etoile du Sahel, leaving them in second place, and a 2-2 draw against Pakistani side, Karachi United, leaving them in third place.
Organised by Aspire Academy, the tournament featured the Academy’s U12 and U11 Feeder football teams against players of the same age groups from the visiting teams.
In the U12 age groups, all football teams concluded the tournament with three points each, but ended with Tunisian team Etoile du Sahel on top, whilst Aspire Academy’s team followed in second place and Pakistani team Karachi United in third place, due to a one goal difference which separated each team from the next.
Commenting on the tournament, Director of Karachi United FC praised the world-class facilities at Aspire Academy, the hospitality of its people and the tournament’s high-level of organisation, saying: “we are grateful to Aspire Academy for inviting us to participate in the Tri-Series football tournament in beautiful Qatar, which has been a very good experience for us. We were thrilled to play against Aspire Academy’s youth teams and Etoile du Sahel. This is the boys’ first international football experience, which has been an important learning experience and an important step forward towards their athletic development. Both competing teams proved to be strong contenders and gave our boys a worthy challenge. We’ll be leaving Qatar with valuable lessons thanks to this wonderful tournament.”
Meanwhile, Etoile du Sahel’s team coordinator, Slim Derouiche, said: “it has been a different environment and a great football experience to our youth team. Aspire Academy’s facilities are second to none and we’re pleased with our overall performance at the tournament, especially for coming in first place at the U12 age group. Everyone from the other teams played really well, and we’ll be taking back great memories of Aspire Academy and Qatar.”
The number of teams that have visited Aspire Academy to compete in the Tri-Series tournament has grown steadily since it was launched in 2012. Last year, more than 32 clubs and associations participated in the tournament.
Participating teams have included major football clubs such as such as Liverpool FC (England), Paris St-Germain (France), Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands), Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia), Nagoya Grampus Eight (Japan), Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia) and Palmeiras (Brazil) as well as national youth teams from Canada and Denmark.
Aspire Academy’s Feeder Group programme precedes enrolment and is responsible for training students below the age of 12 who showcased exceptional football skills through the Academy’s Talent Identification Department’s (TID) scouting process. Boys who show good progress during their years of training at the Feeder Group are then offered to join the Academy.
Aspire Academy’s football programme is widely recognised as one of the strongest in the world in terms of identifying, evaluating and nurturing talent, as well as training players and giving them scope and opportunities to compete.
The Academy’s training philosophy is tailored to the capabilities, talents and goals of Qatar as a footballing nation and it follows a strategy that is geared towards the development of individual players.
The selection criteria for overseas teams taking part in Aspire Academy’s Tri-Series football competition includes a strong emphasis on youth development programmes, in addition to their standard of football and footballing style.
