This weekend Global 5’s crowned their first ever National 5-v-5 Youth Soccer Champions on the breathtakingly beautiful Sinatra Park Soccer Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. In total over 600 children competed in 13 different brackets, over two days, for the right to be crowned National Champion.
The Finals officially opened Friday evening with an address from Global Team Events Director, Andy Roderick and President of Hoboken City Futbol Club, Leo Pellegrini. The two took the time to thank the 1,000 strong crowd for their attendance and praise event sponsors, PUMA, Gatorade and SKLZ for their generous contributions – PUMA gave every Regional Qualifier a uniform to be worn throughout the Finals.
There was also a thank you to the hard working staff at Global Team Events who executed the delivery of the National Finals alongside the fantastic band, Brown and Friends who would be keeping the crowd entertained throughout the evening.
With the ceremony over, it was the U14 Boys who had the privileged of opening the Global 5′ National Finals in front of a partisan crowd. Each game was 24 minutes in length with no half time and a rolling clock, this ensured the games were played at a fast, fluid pace with substitutions on the fly.
The U14 Boys put on a great show for the watching crowd with the Football Club USA New York Levittown Gunners running out eventual winners; bringing Friday to a close as they were crowned the first ever Global 5’s National Champion beneath the stunning Manhattan skyline.
Saturday saw teams begin play at 8am and run through till 10pm as another 12 National Champions were crowned. Despite a brief rain delay, the day went ahead as planned amongst a festival atmosphere.
Throughout the day players were able to participate in the SKLZ activation zone, led by an onsite SKLZ trainer who took players through muscle activation and recovery exercises using the SKLZ training equipment.
Across the four Championship fields, some fantastic soccer was on displayed with teams competing at the very top of their game in a bid to win the illustrious National Championship. Families and players from other age brackets watched some fantastic soccer, especially in the U11 Boys, U14 Girls and U16 Boys brackets, but as the tournament concluded, only the very best were able to call themselves Global 5’s National Champions.
Full list of winners:
U8 Boys Cedar Stars
U9 Girls Blue Sisters
U9 Boys Ironbound Warriors
U10 Boys NJ Fire
U11 Boys EPD Suarez
U11 Girls Levittown Lady Galaxy
U12 Boys EPD Pogba
U12 Girls – Massapequa
U13 Boys - EPD Messi
U13 Girls - Sandwich Hurricanes
U14 Boys FCUSA New York Levittown Gunners (Played Friday)
U14 Girls - FCUSA Coastal
U16 Boys - Hicksville Latin Boys
U16 Girls - Spirit of Liverpool
Each winning team received a Global 5’s winners medal, a pair of PUMA EvoTouch turf shoes and a SKLZ backpack, with the team also receiving the Global 5’ National Championship trophy.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in any of our Regional Qualifiers and those who made it through and attended the National Finals in Hoboken, NJ. We hope you had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and we hope to see you again at a Regional Qualifier next year.
-Global 5’s