The Dubai primary school football season came to a close with a superb four days of outstanding performances in the Trans World Soccer Finals at Rashid School for Boys.
A great week for GEMS Wellington Silicon Oasis saw their future stars lift the top trophy in the U9, U10 and U11 age divisions with some dominant displays. In the U8 division, Foremarke emerged victorious after a hard-fought battle over JBS.
Event organiser Alex Collin was delighted with how the season has gone:
"It's been another great year for primary school football here in Dubai. Over 2000 kids have had the opportunity to play competitive football during the regular season, and there's been over 1000 students here at the finals, which is just fantastic. Having all of the players, teachers and parents here during finals weel is one of the highlights of the school sporting calender."
Headline sponsors of the finals were Trans World Soccer, who offer sports tours for schools to the biggest football clubs in the world. Trans World's UK director, Scott Macfarlane, was impressed with what he saw:
"The standard of football on show this week has been absolutely fantastic. It's our third year supporting the finals – once again, Alex (Collin) and the PE department here at Rashid Boys School have put on a great show, so it's a great honour to be a part of it."
Not competing at the Finals were eight of the largest schools in Dubai, who instead competed in a breakaway league during Term One. In a similar pattern to the Rashid Finals, these leagues were dominated by one school in particular, Repton.
The good news for sports fans? The winners of these leagues will face off against the Football Finals winners in a mouth-watering Champions League showcase event at Nord Anglia School next week.
Fixtures below:
Under 11 – Repton vs Wellington Silicon Oasis
Under 10 – Repton vs Wellington Silicon Oasis
Under 9 – Repton vs Wellingotn Silicon Oasis
Under 8 – Wellington International vs Foremarke