Christchurch United claims top prize

July 11

Christchurch United claims top prize in Christchurch International Cup

The first part of the Christchurch International Cup produced some of the best youth football seen in Canterbury with Christchurch United claiming the under-13 trophy on its home turf.

The annual tournament organised by the Christchurch Football Centre is in its third year and over two weekends will attract over 1500 players and coaches from 84 teams and clubs around New Zealand.

On Tuesday, the Under-14 and Under-13 age-group tournaments reached their climax with Christchurch United edging out Dunedin Technical in the under-13 final after a nerve-wrecking penalty shootout as the scores had been locked at 2-2 after normal time.

In the third-place play-off Aoraki just held off Ferrymead Bays, 1-0 to claim bronze.

In the Under 14 age-group, Nomads from Christchurch were looking impressive and able to upset the highly-rated Western Springs but the Auckland side proved too slick and claimed the trophy with a 1-0 victory.

In the third-place match, Christchurch United continued their successful finals day with a 3-2 win over Richmond Athletic to claim bronze

Tournament director Lew Gordon said the tournament keeps growing from strength to strength and was pleased that the local and visiting teams had all enjoyed themselves.

“We just want to give them a really professional football experience and judging by the positive feedback from parents and players I think we have delivered that the first weekend.”

On Friday, even more teams will line up when the Under-9 to Under 12 age-groups kick off for their Christchurch International Cup.

“That second weekend is the biggest challenge for us organisers with so many teams playing at the same time,” says Lew Gordon. “But we have delivered it with success in previous years so we are confident they players will have a blast. The weather forecast is good so fingers crossed we can keep it dry until the finals on Sunday.”

ENDS

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