The Viareggio Cup starts today, it is a youth tournament held every year in Tuscany for two weeks during the carnival season; the competition starts on the first carnival Monday hence the nickname the “Carnival Cup.” Along side the prestigious Under 19 competition age levels down to as young as Under 10’s get to participate and get a taste of tournament football.

 

The competition is widely regarded as the most important youth tournament in the world and as such carries recognition from CONI, FIGC, UEFA and FIFA.  

 

This year’s edition is the 69th and has 40 teams from across Italy and the world competing for the prestigious trophy. The most successful club so far in the tournament's history is AC Milan with nine wins and six second placed finishes, whilst the most successful foreign side is Dukla Prague from the Czech Republic with six wins.  

 

The Italian teams competing this year are Ancona, Ascoli, Atalanta, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Empoli, Fiorentina, Genoa, Inter, Juventus, Maceratese, Milan, Napoli, Parma, Perugia, Pisa, a representative team from Serie D, Reggiana, Sassuolo, Spal, Spezia and Torino.

 

The overseas teams are Abuja (Nigeria) Athletic Union (USA) Belgrano (Argentina) Club Brugge (Belgium) Cai (Argentina) Camioneros (Argentina) Cortuluá (Colombia) Dukla Prague (Czech Rep) Garden City Panthers (Nigeria) L.I.A.C. New York (USA) Osasco (Brasil) Pas Giannina (Greece) Psv Eindhoven (Holland) Rijeka (Croatia) Toronto (Canada) Ujana (Congo) and Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russia).

 

The teams are split into ten groups of four with the winners of each group automatically qualifying for the next stage and six best runners up making it to the last sixteen. Teams must register players born from 1st January 1998 onwards but are allowed to have three “overage” players in their squad.

 

As well as the obvious team glory there is also an individual award know as the Golden boy, this was introduced in 2009 and is judged by a panel of sports journalists who decide who was the most influential individual during the tournament. Past winners include current Lazio striker Ciro Immobile who won the award in 2010.

 

The famous players who have participated in the competition are to numerous to list but include names such as Italian superstars Franco Baresi, Gaetano Scirea and Dino Zoff with international stars such as Gabriel Batistuta, Edison Cavani and Robert Prosineski making an impact on the competition. 

 

This years opening match will be played between current trophy holders Juventus and Dukla Prague with Fiorentina play-maker and Italian international Federico Bernardeschi who played in the 2013 edition, reading the athletes oath before the kick off.

 

A two week festival of football as young players and coaches look to take their careers to the next level, a plethora of scouts from across the world will be interested onlookers as they hope to find the next world superstar.

 

 

The final will be played on Wednesday 29th of May.

Mark Neale