Senegal’s Academie Foot have received a first-ever invitation to participate in Youth Cup
Academie Generation Foot, a football academy based in Senegal, has received an invitation to participate in the BStars/Fifa Youth Cup in Zurich. The prestigious youth tournament is hosted by the world football governing body and is considered one of the most sought-after youth club tournaments in the world.
Only seven other African teams have been invited to participate in the tournament in the past, including Al Ahly from Egypt, Asante Kotoko, FC Nania and Mysterious Dwarfs from Ghana, Abuja Unity Boys from Nigeria, TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kaizer Chiefs, who competed in 2010.
Academie Generation Foot will compete in Group A against FC Basle and FC Zürich from Switzerland, and France’s Olympique Marseille. The tournament features two groups, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the last four. The two semi-final winners will then compete in the final, while the losing teams will play for third place. The tournament has a long history, having been held every year since 1939, with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The BStars/Fifa Youth Cup is considered a major stage for young footballers to showcase their skills and has been attended by many of the world’s leading clubs. Manchester United has won the tournament 18 times, making them the most successful team in the event’s history. Other successful teams include AC Milan, AS Roma, Barcelona, Arsenal, São Paulo, and Boca Juniors.
The tournament has also been a platform for many players who have gone on to achieve stardom, with the slogan of the tournament being ‘Where Stars Are Born’.
The tournament has a rich history, with some of the finest young footballing talents having competed in the past. In 1954, the victorious Manchester United team included some of the best young players ever assembled, including Duncan Edwards, Bill Whelan, David Pegg, Eddie Colman, Albert Scanlon, Bobby Charlton, and Wilf McGuinness, who all went on to play for their countries.
Tragically, Edwards, Whelan, Pegg, and Colman lost their lives in the infamous 1958 Munich air crash. Bobby Charlton returned to Zurich to compete in the 1959 edition of the Blue Stars tournament. In more recent times, players such as David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, and Gary Neville have also played in the tournament.
Fifa assumed patronage of the tournament in 1991, and in 2000, São Paulo became the first non-European winner of the tournament, defeating FC Zurich on penalties in the final in front of an 11,000-strong crowd at the Letzigrund. Kaka was in the squad at the time but was injured. The Kaizer Chiefs, a South African football team, drew with FC Basle but lost to Blue Stars, Grasshoppers, and Spain’s Mallorca when they competed in the tournament 13 years ago, with Fani Madida as their coach.
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