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It’s that time again…World Cup time!
This year Chengdu is hosting a special kind of World Cup competition for the expat and local footballing community, a Chengdu mini world cup.
Saturday June 16th from 2 till 6pm at Flower town [Southeast Chengdu]. Welcome to come enjoy the games, food by Tim’s Bar-B-Q and craft beer from The Beer Nest.
We caught up with organizer Andy McAuley to find out more about it.
We’ve been running the Chengdu International Football League (CIFL) for 7 years now. For the first year the teams were based on countries or continents in some cases. We had an African team, French team, American team and so on. After a while we stopped doing that, as people wanted to play with their friends rather than being forced onto a team where they didn’t know anybody, however we always liked the idea of ‘playing for your country’, it’s a fun gimmick.
4 Years ago we organized a 5v5 mini world cup where you had to play for your nation. We struggled to find 8 teams and in the end China defeated Israel in the final. Maybe those guys should be playing for the 国足! This time around we have 17 teams signed up from 15 different countries and there has been a lot more interest in it. It’s a full day event with music, BBQ and beer at the pitch. We also have a big screen out there showing the France v Australia game right after the final of the tournament so we’re trying to create a fun atmosphere throughout the day. Let’s hear from some of the team captains playing at the tournaments.
Schedule
Map
Players
Filip [Poland]
English teacher / rap singer
How long have you been in Chengdu?
3.5 years
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
We have very high expectations. We are hoping that our athleticism and strong eastern European physique will help us win the cup. We are even more sure of that after seeing the CL final.
Kwame [Ghana]
Student
How long have you been in Chengdu?
6 years
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
To be the first African nation to win the World Cup.
Dieter Vanonckelen 迪哥 [Belgium]
Business owner
How long have you been in Chengdu? 9 Years
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
Be the underdog, go out quietly after the 1st round and hit the pop-up bar.
Nadhir [India]
Student
How long have you been in Chengdu? 4 years
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
Reaching the Quarter-final
Alex Getler [Canada]
Teacher
How long have you been in Chengdu? 2 years
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
To try our best to win it all. As well have a nice day and meet some new friends. Also have a good time!
Tom [Spain]
Barça fan
How long have you been in chengdu? 1 year
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
Nutmegs, nutmegs, nutmegs
Martin [England]
Head of Physical Education
How long have you been in Chengdu? Almost 3 years
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
In true English style we feel the weight of our whole nations expectation to win the world cup but in reality we don’t stand a chance. It would be great to get out of the group stages and into the quarters were we will probably be beaten on penalties by the Germans!
Nenad [Serbia]
Football coach
How long have you been in Chengdu? Year and a half
What’s your expectation for the tournament?
Easy to the final then hard game but at the end Serbia is the winner
Time: 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Venue: Cikers Park 赛客公园
Address: No. 301 Liuxin Rd., Jinjiang District 四川省成都市锦江区琉新路301号
Photos
