Ethnic Soccer Cup kicks off Auckland’s International Cultural Festival

Experience the music, dance, arts and crafts of over 30 nations at the Auckland International Cultural Festival on Sunday, 25 February.

This year the free Auckland City Council festival also hosts the inaugural Ethnic Soccer Cup. There are 32 teams representing their nationalities in the seven-a-side soccer tournament. The winning teams will take home the ethnic soccer cup trophy.

The cultural festival is now in its ninth year and has moved to a new venue at War Memorial Park, Mt Roskill to enable more people to enjoy the daylong celebration.

“The festival is a fantastic celebration of Auckland's rich and diverse cultures and an excellent opportunity for ethnic groups to display with pride the cultural variety they bring to the city.

“We encourage all Aucklanders to come and find out more about different nationalities, share in different cultures, and meet some of the new people who live in Auckland’s communities.” says Councillor Penny Sefuiva, Arts, Culture and Recreation Committee chairperson.

The event includes music and performances from manycultural groups including the Trinidad Steel Drummers, MIXIT Refugee Youth Arts Project and traditional dance groups from Iran, Ethiopia, Greece, Assyria, Finland, the Congo and many other places.

There will also be more than 100 stalls showcasing arts, crafts and food from around the world.

New Zealand Sign Language interpreters will be on the main stages to help make the event more accessible for the deaf community.

Auckland International Cultural Festival is organised by Auckland City Council and supported by RMS Refugee Resettlement, The Aucklander, Families Commission, NZCT, Lion Foundation, More FM, Kiwi FM and Arts Access Aotearoa.

The festival is just one of more than 60 free events provided by Auckland City Council as part of the Ak@Play summer events programme. For more information please visit www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/culturalfestival

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