2012 Danone Nations Cup

History

The world cup of youth soccer has now restarted its qualification process for the 2012 Danone Nations Cup (DNC).

10 countries worldwide, 40 teams, 40 tournaments and more than 2.5 million children will participate in this global world-class event which now enters its 12th year. The Danone Nations Cup is the world’s biggest football tournament for children aged 10 to 12. Throughout this competition, the values of Fair Play, Openness, Sharing and Pleasure are promoted to all involved. Following the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, Groupe DANONE decided to create an international football tournament for kids.

In 2000, the 1st edition of the Danone Nations Cup took place, gathering 8 teams from 2 continents: Bulgaria, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Turkey and Ukraine. Already 35.000 players and 125.000 spectators worldwide! France became the first team to raise the DNC trophy, whilst Aydin Yilmaz, one of the Turkish players, is now playing as a professional for one the best clubs in his country: Galatasaray! Stories like these confirm the philosophy of the event: "Believe in your dreams".

In 2001 the event considerably grew up as 24 teams, representing 24 nations from 4 different continents. Giovani "Gio" dos Santos, former player of FC Barcelona, was chosen as the best player of the tournament. Reunion Islands won the competition in 2001, while Argentina won the 2002 edition. In 2003, the Danone Nations Cup moved up to a higher level! 32 countries participated and world class player Zinedine Zidane became the official ambassador of the competition. Between 2003 and 2006, the event has been respectively won by South Africa, Spain and Reunion Islands.

In the year 2007 the Danone Nations Cup took another step by gathering 40 countries from all over the world. Therefore, new countries joined the adventure such as Saudi Arabia, Chile, Hungary, Uruguay, Namibia and Bangladesh. The World Final took place in front of 35.000 spectators and more than 250 journalists. South Africa won its second DNC.

In 2008, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Mauritius Islands and Qatar took part in the event. 8 years after its first victory, the team representing France made its dream come true by winning the 9th edition in front of their ambassador and World Cup Champion Zinédine Zidane.

In 2009, for the first time, the Danone Nations Cup was planned to take place out of France, in Brazil. However because of the risks linked to the swine flu, it was postponed to 2010. This is why the 2010 edition in South Africa was such a unique and extraordinary edition, with both the 2009 & 2010 delegations playing in parallel both World Finals.

U.S. Qualifier

The U.S. qualifier will be played during the Memorial Day weekend, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

Tryouts will be held for the FUTSOC USA ENIGMA national select squad which will participate in the USA qualifier tournament of the 2012 Danone Cup.

U.S. Soccer Youth Affiliate U.S. Club Soccer

Eligibility Youth players born during the year 2000.

For further information: Contact: Coach Jose Tamayo Email: futsocusaenigma@aol.com Website: www.futsocusa.net

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