Cayman Airways Invitational Youth Cup kicks off this Tuesday

GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman – The second annual Cayman Airways Invitational Youth Cup begins next Tuesday, heralding a weeklong series of fantastic football matches taking place from 5th to 10th May, showcasing the best of Cayman’s under fifteen football talent, playing against youngsters from some of the world’s best under fifteen teams.

Players from Chicago Fire from Illinois, USA, FC Motagua from Honduras, IMG Academy from Florida, USA, Ipswich Town FC from the United Kingdom and St George’s College from Jamaica will face Cayman’s Academy Select, the Cayman Islands National U15 and West Bay Select in what will prove to be an incredible display of talent and intense excitement for the entire week.

Matches will be played at the Annex in George Town, the Ed Bush Stadium in West Bay and there will also be a match played at the Cayman Brac Sports Complex on Cayman Brac, thereby showcasing the great facilities the entire Cayman Islands have to offer. The first match will be played at 5pm on Tuesday 5th May at the Annex and will feature Ipswich Town battle it out against Cayman’s Academy Select side. The final will take place on Sunday 10th May at 6.30pm at the Annex. The closing ceremony will take place at 8pm that evening.

Fabian Whorms, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Cayman Airways said: “It takes dedication, a strong team spirit, integrity, a good deal of maturity and an incredible passion for the sport for young people to play football at a high level. We know tournaments such as the Cayman Airways Invitational Youth Cup, aimed specifically at the under fifteens, will go a long way in helping our players develop important skills, which they can then carry through and nurture all the way to adulthood.”

A raft of sponsors have generously lent their support to this vital event for Cayman’s youth, including Cayman Airways as title sponsors, who are flying all the international players into the islands for the tournament. Tower, Crighton Properties Ltd., Wyndham Reef Resort, Cayman Reporter and the Cayman Islands Government’s Ministry of Sports are all Silver sponsors, while Logic, the Cayman Islands Government’s Ministry of Tourism, Excel Sports Management (ESM), Dart, McAlpine and CIFA are all Bronze sponsors. Davenport, PWC, RBC and Ristorante Pappagallo are all sponsoring Partners and there are a huge number of other entities also supporting the event.

Burger King has generously sponsored the ‘Say no to Bullying’ theme for the tournament. The theme serves to help bring awareness to this serious issue, which is a particularly important issue for Cayman’s youth and young people everywhere. In light of this, organisers are hoping that everyone will ‘like’ the theme on each individual team’s Facebook page. The team with the most ‘likes’ will be rewarded with a free Stingray City Trip for up to 20 people to the value of $3,000. This will be a fantastic chartered excursion sponsored by Capt. Marvin’s, so any supporter of the teams involved should get onto the team’s Facebook page right now, to support awareness of bullying and give their favourite football team an excellent day out in addition.

Admission to games is just CI$5 for adults and CI$1 for children so everyone can enjoy the thrill of the game. The opening ceremony takes place on Tuesday 5th May at the Annex at 4.30pm.

For information about the tournament, visit www.caymanyouthcup.ky or email [email protected].

Follow the tournament and teams on Facebook www.facebook.com/CaymanYouthCup and Twitter #caymanyouthcup