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. 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 displays Phoenix FC, a grassroots football club competing in the Gothia Cup. [2]
Founded | 1975 |
---|---|
Region | Swedia |
Number of teams | 1700 teams |
Website | http://www.gothiacup.se/ |
Overview
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]
- Júlio Baptista (with Pequeninos do Jockey)
- Zé Roberto (with Pequeninos do Jockey)
- Erwin Sánchez (with AD Tahuichi)
- Alan Shearer (with Wellington Juniors)
- Xabi Alonso (with Antiguoko)
- Egy Maulana Vikri (with ASIOP Apacinti)
- Andrea Pirlo (with US Voluntas)
- Cristian Zaccardo (with FC Spilamberto)
- Bernard Montiel (with FC Motus)
- Emmanuel Adebayor (with Les Eperviers)
- Zlatan Ibrahimović
- Kim Källström won with BK Häcken 1997 (with Partille IF 1996)
- Tobias Hysén
- Gordon Durie (with Hill of Beath Swifts)
- Angus Balloch (with Manchester United)
- Matilda Andersson won with Jitex 2014
- Thisma Dargou with Retournac Sportif
See also
References
- "World's largest youth soccer cup gets underway in Gothenburg". www.sverigesradio.se. SR International – Radio Sweden. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
- "Gothia Cup 2018". Goteborg.com. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
- "Gothia Cup - Gothia Cup on export to China". 26 September 2015. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015.
- "Gothia Cup China » 2019, Qingdao".
- "Visste du att… - Gothia Cup". Gothiacup.se. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- "All Star Team - Gothia Cup". Gothiacup.se. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- Erik [email protected] (2012-07-16). "Gothia Cup har växt ur sin kostym | GT". Expressen.se. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2013-05-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gothia Cup. |