21 Nov 2024
The third and final preliminary tournament of the Aspire Academy Spread Your Wings Football Cup concluded on Wednesday. The event on the indoor pitch at Aspire Academy was part of the Academy's ongoing celebrations, marking 20 years since its establishment. The tournament, for boys born in 2016, is one of the Academy's community events and brings together schools from around Qatar to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage youngsters to get involved in sports. It also offers Aspire Academy the chance to identify upcoming and young talent who could eventually be invited to join the Academy's programmes to nurture their potential.
The third tournament featured 28 schools and a total of 280 students, bringing the total of youngsters who played across all three qualifying stages to nearly 700.
Four more schools qualified for the finals from the event to join the eight from the opening rounds on 10 and 12 November. The 12-team finals are set to be played in April 2025 (6 public schools and six private schools):
Qualified Schools from November 20:
- Hatteen School
- Al Shorouq School
- Vision School
- Al Manar School
Qualified Schools from Previous Stages:
November 10:
- Al Andalus Private School
- Oxford English School
- Simaisma Primary School for Boys
- Khalifa Model School
November 12:
- Royal International School
- SEK International School
- Bilal Bin Rabah Model School
- Saad Bin Abi Waqqas Model School
Mr. Saeed Ali Al-Mari, the Director of Football Administration Aspire Academy, hailed the event as a huge success: "Today marks the final day of the school qualifiers, with the participation of 28 schools. Over the three stages, we've witnessed outstanding performances from students, and we have identified promising talents among the participants. This tournament serves as an essential platform for discovering and nurturing football skills in children."
Abdullah Al-Munai, Head of the Kuwaiti National Youth Team Delegation, who is currently at Aspire Academy with the Kuwait national under-16 team for a training camp and friendly games, was impressed with what he saw: "We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Aspire Academy on its 20th anniversary and commend their continued excellence, which they have consistently demonstrated over the years. It is truly inspiring to witness this outstanding tournament and the remarkable participation of students from both public and private schools. This event underscores the Academy's unwavering commitment to discovering young talent—a process that begins in schools, is carefully nurtured, and refined to reach higher levels, ultimately preparing athletes to represent their national teams in the future."
Mr. Badr Al-Hay, Director of Education and Student Affairs at Aspire Academy, added:
"The atmosphere today at Aspire Academy's stadium fills us with joy, especially seeing this large number of students and their enthusiasm for participating. This year's edition aligns perfectly with our celebration of the Academy's 20th anniversary. This annual event aims to nurture young talents, giving outstanding participants the opportunity to train at the Academy and potentially join as full-time students if their performance continues to improve."
Edorta Murua, the Technical Director of Football at Aspire Academy, was excited to see the youngsters in action:
"This is the purest part of football, the part that embodies dreams and innocence. Here, we truly see a glimpse of the streets—children from schools in Qatar competing and experiencing what it means to be part of Aspire Academy. For us, gathering 30 schools with 300 kids playing on so many pitches here is incredible. It represents the new generations, the ones that we need to start observing, as these are the young talents who will, one day, become part of our future teams. We see how they value the game, winning and losing, and, most importantly, the joy of participating. This is when one can truly say that football is worth it. There's nothing like this."
In addition to the tournament, Aspire Academy is organising a series of community events to reaffirm its commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles and inspiring youth to engage in sports. These activities include student-led sports events, seminars with Academy alumni, and gatherings aimed at strengthening bonds within Qatar's sports community.