Latin American teams compete in Friendship Cup

(Lima, January 2012). The XXIX Friendship Cup ended in a spirit of great joy and excitement. The football tournament, which brought together about 4,000 children from January 23 to 29 in sporting venues in Lima and El Callao, was hosted by Cantolao Sports Academy and the El Callao Regional Government, with support from the Social Action Program for Sport (PASD) of CAF - Latin American development bank.

This year teams from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela took part, along with clubs from 20 Peruvian provinces.

The Championship was held for the fifth year running with support from the CAF Social Action Program for Sport, an initiative that the multilateral organization promotes in its shareholder countries to improve the quality of life of boys and girls and youth at risk, using sport as a tool for social prevention and rescue and as an opportunity for young people, especially from low-income backgrounds, to become agents of their own change.

The Program channels funds into sports programs that promote formation of values, education and life skills, social integration, gender equality, health and disease prevention, as well as inclusion of people with disabilities.

This year the outstanding teams included Tahuichi Academy (Bolivia), the Corinthians (Brazil) teams, Emelec (Ecuador), Cruz Azul (Mexico), and the Uruguay Selection.

In the key matches of the international finals, Mercedes Selection (Uruguay) won 9-0 over Unifutbol of Ecuador in Key 7 of Category 99, Cantolao "A" beat 8-2 Emelec (Ecuador) in Key 8 of the same category, while the local Santa María team beat Cruz Azul of Mexico 4-3.

In important results among local Peruvian teams, the Cantolao Chiclayo team won 3-2 over Ramiro Villaverde of Junín in Key 7 of the 2000 Category, while Cantolao SJM scored 7 goals to 3 by Padehli Sport in Key 8 of the 2000 Category.

The CAF Friendship Cup is one of the most important juvenile football tournaments in Latin America, and is now included in the international calendar of Juvenile Football Tournaments, with approval from FIFA and the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF).

Past tournaments have seen world class stars such as the Argentines Lionel Messi and Javier Zanetti, Uruguayan Alvaro Recoba and Bolivia's Marco Etcheverry, along with the Peruvians Jefferson Farfán and Carlos Zambrano (FC Shalke 04), Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) and Paolo Guerrero (Hamburg SV), among others, who once played in the Cantolao Academy.