du adds life-to-life to a new generation of sports savvy individuals with the launch of du Football Champions (duFC), to discover young talents in the UAE and thus build tomorrow’s football stars, in partnership with La Liga. Through a groundbreaking partnership with La Liga, duFC is designed to offer young talent from across the UAE the opportunity for a professional international and national football career. The competition is also endorsed by the UAE Football Association and is open to boys and girls aged 11-17 from across the UAE. Designed to attract the largest number of football enthusiasts, duFC is at no charge to schools or street teams and will enable some 8,000 players (boys and girls) from across the UAE to participate in the Championship.
Partnering with La Liga, the strongest football league in the world, duFC refines the youth talents and enriches their capabilities with the latest available scientific measures and styles, through training with world-famous coaches and traveling to Spain and playing competitive games with the best La Liga youth clubs, giving them the prospects of being selected for an international pro-football career.
About UAE Schools Cup
The du Football Champion’s UAE Schools Cup, in partnership with La Liga, is set to change the face of youth football athletics in the UAE with the most sought after competition in the UAE. The Cup was born to support the UAE’s quest for development of youth football excellence. The championship is open to all schools in the UAE in three categories:
Boys U14, Boys U16 and Girls U17. Winners will travel to Spain for training, competitive matches and football tourism with La Liga. Top players could also land a trial with one of the top clubs in La Liga. The Cup will be played in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Northern Emirates. All teams must be made up of 12 players.
About Streets Cup
The du Football Champion’s Streets Cup, in partnership with La Liga, is open to Boys U16. It allows multiple entrants based on only one requirement: that they participate with a team, either an established team, which could be either on a club, school or academy team or a newly formed team with their friends. The Streets Cup enables youth teams to experience football on a professional level, with the upholding of commitment, fair play and teamwork values at the heart of the tournament. The Streets Cup runs concurrently with the Schools Cup. Winners will travel to Spain for training, competitive matches and football tourism with La Liga. Top players could also land a trial with one of the top clubs in La Liga. The Cup will be played in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Northern Emirates. All teams must be made up of 10 players.
Hundreds of schools and thousands of youngsters will compete for the grand prizes which include an all-expenses paid 14-day trip to Spain with La Liga for training, competitive matches with Spain’s best youth football clubs as well as football tourism. Top players will also be scouted to become professional players with one of the La Liga clubs. The tournaments will be played at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain Football Club, Sharjah Football Club, Emirates Sevens and Dubai Sports City in Dubai, all under the expert guidance of football legend Michel Salgado, who has just been appointed as a global ambassador for La Liga.
The competitions will be played over a 15-week period from 17th October to 19th March, 2016. All matches will be played on Saturdays at the Dubai Mall Ice Rink from 9am to 5.30pm. The finals will be held on March 19th, 2016. For more information, visit www.dufc.ae.