Fine sporting gesture at Barça Academy Las Americas Cup

The third edition of the Barça Academy Las Américas international trophy has ended with a fine gesture of fair play on the final day of competition. The Barça Escola Barcelona U10 team beat Barça Academy PRO NY 4-1 in the final, but as soon as they received the trophy, they handed it and the title to the team from New York because due to injury problems, they had played the final with two players borrowed from other teams. Barça Escola Barcelona and Barça Academy PRO NY posed together on the podium, together with the trophy and their respective national flags.

For the third year running, the tournament was played on Los Establos polo grounds at Cap Cana (Dominican Republic), and this year with the support of Scotiabank brought together almost 600 boys and girls aged 6 to 18 for three days of top quality football and wonderful sportsmanship from the different FC Barcelona soccer schools in the Americas. A total of 54 teams from eight different countries took part (Canada, United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Barcelona).

In addition to Barça Academy PRO NY in U10, the other trophies were well distributed among the entrants. The first U8 edition was won by Barça Academy Costa Rica, while Barça Escola Barcelona Blau won the U12 final on penalties against their colleagues from Barça Escola Barcelona Grana. In U14, the trophy stayed in the Dominican Republic for the third time in a row thanks to the host’s Grana team, while the 11-a-side U16 and U18 competitions were won by Barça Academy Dominicana Blau and Punta Cana FC respectively.

Once again, the events gave the children a great chance to meet up with other kids who, like them, are learning to play by the world famous style and values of FC Barcelona: humility, effort, ambition, respect and team-work (HEART). And it was made patently clear by what we saw in the Caribbean this weekend that they are all very good learners.

Touching on excellence
The third edition has further consolidated this wonderful event, and the organisers were keen to stress the high quality of the organisation and tremendous climate of Barça spirit over the three days of fun at Cap Cana. It was a wonderful experience for the young players, and one they will surely never forget. With a massive 50% increase in the number of participants, and twice as many categories, there is no doubting the value of this sporting experience for the participating academies.

BARÇA ACADEMY LAS AMÉRICAS CUP HONOURS LIST:

Initiation – U8:
2018 – Barça Academy Costa Rica

Formation – U10:
2016 – Barça Escola Barcelona
2017 – Barça Escola Barcelona
2018 – Barça Academy PRO New York

Pre-competition U12:
2016 – Barça Academy Fukuoka
2017 – Barça Academy Dominicana Blau
2018 – Barça Escola Barcelona Blau

Competition – U14:
2016 – Barça Academy Dominicana Blau
2017 – Barça Academy Dominicana Blau
2018 – Barça Academy Dominicana Grana

Cadete – U16:
2018 – Barça Academy Dominicana Blau

Juvenil – U18:
2018 – Punta Cana FC