Vila Real de Santo António council described the 21st edition of the ‘Mundialito’ – a football tournament for youth teams from some of the biggest national and international clubs – as “a success”.
The tournament – which took place in VRSA and neighbouring Ayamonte, Spain, between April 12 and 20 – attracted 10,000 people for the opening ceremony alone.
In all, a total of 4,000 youngsters from more than 200 teams took part, including teams from Portugal’s ‘Big Three’ – Benfica, Sporting and Porto – as well as from Barcelona, Juventus, Chelsea, Arsenal, Ajax, Sevilla and Bétis.
In the 2002/2003 age category, Sporting triumphed beating Spain’s Bétis in the final (2-0).
Despite the defeat, Bétis’ youngsters born in 2004/2005 made sure their club had something to celebrate by beating Barcelona in the final of their category by an impressive 5-0.
The remaining categories were won by Sevilla, with unquestionable triumphs against Atlético Madrid (4-2) and ED Ciudad de Aljarque (12-3) in the 2006/2007 and 2008 categories, respectively.
VRSA council confirms that the ‘Mundialito’ will be back again next year between March 28 and April 5 for “yet another week of youth football played at the highest level”.
