At a press conference held on, Tuesday, 22nd July, 2014, the Organizing Committee of the 4th annual GENERALI CEE Cup, an international football tournament for top youth teams (under 19) from Central & Eastern Europe, unveiled this year’s programme and activities for the week-long tournament, which starts, Wednesday, 23rd July 2014.
The press conference was held in the new Mark Luxury Hotel Prague, and was opened by the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Roberto De Blasio, who gave a short summary of the tournament schedule and an overview of the teams taking part.
Talking about the event, De Blasio said: “This year we are very excited to have 12 great clubs from across the CEE region confirmed to participate in the tournament, including last year’s champions, Gyori ETO FC from Hungary as well as three of the Czech Republic’s top youth teams. We are also very pleased to have the GENERALI CZE Foundation back for the second year in a row as title sponsors and, on behalf of all of us at the CEE Cup, we would like to thank the entire GENERALI team for their ongoing support.”
Mr. De Blasio went on to introduce this year’s parallel programme, a tradition for the GENERALI CEE Cup, which last year organized a series of referee training seminars in conjunction with FIFA. This year the programme will include a number of activities by the international football scouting portal Wyscout. Wyscout will be holding a special scouting clinic within an exceptional football agents’ programme during the week of the tournament, and will also present its new Wyscout Platform 4 as well as attending the majority of the games.
Jiri Civka, board member of the Generali CZE Foundation, said: “The GENERALI CEE Cup fits with the long-term strategy of our Foundation, which is to support sporting projects that help young people to fulfil their potential and, of course, sport is the link to a healthy lifestyle. An important aspect of our support is also the tournament’s charitable element, which is to support UNICEF.”
The first match will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, 23rd July, from 10:00 am in the Xaverov stadium, and will be between Slavia Praha and Vasas Kubala Academy. First round matches will continue until 27th July, followed by two semi-finals on 28th July and the Grand Final on of Wednesday, 30th July at 17:30 in the Dolicek-Bohemians stadium. The whole match will be worldwide broadcasted live on Eurosport TV. Teams taking part in the GENERALI CEE Cup 2014 include FK Sarajevo, F.S.V. Frankfurt, Gyori ETO FC, Clubul Sportiv Juventus Bucuresti, FK Mlada Boleslav, Red Star Belgrade, SK Slavia Praha, AC Sparta Praha, AS Trencin, VASAS Kubala Academy, Bohemians 1905 and Wisla Krakow FA.
Despite the huge cost of putting on such a tournament, the organizers are keen that it also has a charitable element and, for the fourth year running, the Organizing Committee will again be donating proceeds from the sale of tickets for the Grand Final of the GENERALI CEE Cup to the UNICEF ‘Schools for Africa’ project.
Other speakers at the Press Conference included Lukas Manhart, Alderman of Prague, Jindrich Rajchl, Chairman of the Commission for Players’ Agents of the FACR, Otakar Mestek, Director of the Department of Amateur and Youth Football, and Czech football legend, Antonin Panenka.
The GENERALI CEE Cup tournament focuses on “Respect”, “Fair Play” and “Competitiveness”, all of which are very important for today’s youth players, and this year’s edition is sure to be an even bigger and better event than last year. The organizers are hoping to fill the stadium and, consequently, raise a great deal of money for UNICEF.
