Florida Cup officially began Friday with an event held at the UCF (University of Central Florida) campus. Representatives from the participating teams in the 2017 Challenger , the first of two competitions in this year’s event, talked about the importance of participating in the tournament, which will be honoring the victims of the Chapecoense flight tragedy.
Ricardo Villar, Florida Cup CEO, presented a numbered and limited edition bracelet that will be available for the supporters to buy and that will serve as ticket to the All Star Game, to be played by former legends such as Rivaldo, Cafu, Doni and Juan Pablo Sorin. Each bracelet will cost $10, with all profits to be donated to the families impacted by the plane crash in Colombia that took 71 lives in late November.
“It will be a special occasion to us, having the support of huge names and raising funds for the families,” said Villar.
Aside from former football stars, Villar also confirmed that Brazilian singer Daniel will perform a special concert for this occasion.
(Cristopher Antunez / Goal)
João Gomide, Atletico-MG’s business director, praised the chance to participate in the tournament where the club emerged victorious in 2016.
“It’s very important to be close to our fans that live abroad, and here we have a great concentration of people that support our team,” he said, while also underlining the opportunity for athletes that are still fighting for a spot on the team in this season kickoff.
“The most important thing was that we had a chance to begin our work in the right way, so let’s hope to repeat this strategy in 2017,” Gomide continued.
(Rodrigo Calvozzo / Goal Brasil)
Bahia president Marcelo Santana echoed his fellow director’s lines, and sees benefits from Tricolor’s participation in this year’s edition already.
“The club arranged international matches in the last few years, such as Shakthar Donetsk last season,” he said.
“Today we can keep in touch with our Argentinean and German opponents, with whom we can learn commercial techniques and also look to improve our training methods.”
Florida Cup will be starting on the pitch next Sunday with a match between Bayer Leverkusen and Estudiantes de La Plata. In this nations challenge stage, the points earned by the teams of the same countries will be added up to see which nation will be the competition winner.
