Mina Cup and NI Supercup announce an exciting partnership
The organisers behind the Mina Cup have announced an exciting partnership with one of the best youth football tournaments in the world.
The SuperCupNI, formerly the Milk Cup, has provided some of the world’s most famous footballers with a platform to go and become global stars. The tournament, which is based in Northern Ireland, plays host to some of the world’s best youth academies every July and the likes of David Beckham,Peter Crouch, Marcus Rashford and Joe Cole have all starred at the tournament.
In fact, 28 players at the recent FIFA World Cup in Qatar played at the tournament in Northern Ireland.
Discussions between the organisers of the Mina Cup and SuperCupNI have taken place over the last number of months and a partnership has been formed.
The winners of the U14 UAE qualifying competition for the Mina Cup in the Autumn of 2023 will qualify for the SuperCupNI Premier section in 2024 and the winners of the SuperCupNI 2023 Minor U13 section will qualify for the U14 section of the Mina Cup in 2024.
Organizer of the Mina Cup, Chris Brown is also a tournament graduate of the SuperCupNI and he admitted his experiences in Northern Ireland was the brainchild behind the establishment of the Mina Cup.
“I played for Crewe Alexandra at the tournament in 1996 where we lost to Spurs in the semi final.
"It was an incredible experience and some of the memories from that tournament are things that I will never forget".
“It is an extremely well-run tournament with fantastic crowds and a real feel of what it would be like to be a professional footballer at a young age.
“Since moving to Dubai, I’ve been heavily involved in football and now run a football company that focuses on youth development, coach education and football event management and promotion".
“We are blessed with some incredible facilities in Dubai and for years I had been thinking of trying to organize an elite youth football tournament and at the back of my mind I wanted to deliver an event that replicated the quality and standard of the SuperCupNI.”
SuperCupNI chairman Victor Leonard said it an exciting development for the tournament as they celebrate their 40 th anniversary.
“Chris and his team had originally contacted us for advice as he was about to launch the Mina Cup.
“Since then, we have kept in close contact with Chris, and he is coming over to Northern Ireland in July to take in the tournament and some of our tournament management team will hopefully go to Dubai to take in the Mina Cup in the near future.
“We are keen to build this relationship in the future and we are really looking forward to working with Chris and his team.”