Boys head to Manchester for Premier Cup World Finals

August 2011

MANCHESTER August 1st 2011

For the fourth year running Right to Dream Academy in partnership with Vodafone are on their way to Manchester as one of the top twenty most promising under-15 teams in the world to face the ultimate test of their skills, at the World Finals of the 2011 Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC).

Right to Dream Premier Cup team depart Academy in Ghana for Manchester with Coach James Foxon

The final stages of the global competition kick off with the all-important Opening Ceremony & Draw at Manchester United’s Training Facility at Carrington on Tuesday 2^nd August at 7.30pm, under the watchful eyes of Sir Bobby Charlton and surprise guests.

Tournament matches will be played at Carrington from 3^rd-5^th August with the final showdown scheduled to kick off at Old Trafford, Manchester United’s ‘Theatre of Dreams’ at 12pm on Saturday 6^th August following Manchester United’s 1^st Team Open Training session .

Premier Cup was developed by NIKE in 1993 as a grassroots tournament and evolved to become a global celebration of youth football in 2003 when Manchester United added their name to the ultimate competition - and the Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) World Finals were born!

Amongst the 1.7m youngsters who have shared the dream of international football to date are some of our favourite footballing superstars. More than 25 tournament "old boys" were called up to represent their country in South Africa - including an incredible SIX players in Spain's championship-winning side. SIX Premier Cup Graduates were also selected for the FIFA-FIFPro 2010 World XI, including Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Gerard Piqué.

MUPC is the ultimate youth football tournament for under-15’s. An incredible opportunity for over 8,000 teams from all walks of life to live the dream, feel the passion and measure their extraordinary talents against the best of their peers - to find out whether they have what it takes to become THE footballing stars of the future.

Most of the young teams travelling to Manchester are anxious about facing opposition from the ‘Big name’ clubs like Manchester United, Boca Juniors and Chelsea FC, who qualify for the World Finals for the first time this year.

Representing South Africa for the fourth time, Orlando Pirates are hoping to improve on previous performances, as are Ghana & Africa Regional Champions Right to Dream Academy in partnership with Vodafone. Coach James Foxon says his team are looking forward to the exciting challenges and opportunities ahead: “Our greatest challenge previously has come from the South/Central American teams but our first task is to progress through the group stages and then we will re-evaluate our chances.”

Captain of Right to Dream, Sirdick Grant said: "

Each player in the team works harder in training and does extra training on his own time. This week has been a busy week for us, because of visas so we haven’t trained a lot this week but still we do things together just to build up confidence and also organise team meetings to talk about what we need to improve, how it’s going to be done and gives more encouragement to each other. But for this moment we really believe that this could be our year and know that each player is going to play at his maximum best to help achieve our dream."

Twenty teams including some of the best young footballers in the world are dreaming of glory, but only one will lift the trophy at Old Trafford as the 2011 Manchester United Premier Cup Champions of the World!

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For further information, including pictures of Right to Dream:

Ben Keene +233 2005 100 49 / ben.keene@righttodream.com

Qualified teams:

Europe

1. France: FC Metz

2. Germany: Hannover 96

3. Europe 2: PSV (Holland)

4. Italy: Catania Calcio

5. Spain: Valencia CF

6. Europe 1: Fenerbahce (Turkey)

7. UK: Chelsea FC