Doha, Qatar: The Aspire Academy football teams concluded their season with several tightly fought games at home and overseas. A squad of players travelled to Dalian, China, from May 17-27 to compete in the 28th edition of The International School Sport Federation’s (ISF) Football World Cup 2024. While in Doha, the Academy hosted under-17 and under-15 teams from the Azerbaijani club Qarabag, as well as an under-13 squad from Saudi Arabian side Ettifaq.
Earlier in May, the Aspire feeder team also travelled to Turkey to participate in the Antalya Junior World Cup 2024. The ISF, founded in 1972, is an international non-profit sports organisation that acts as the umbrella organisation and governing body for national school sports bodies worldwide. Thirty-six teams from across Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America participated in the ISF Football World Cup, with Aspire Academy representing Qatar at the tournament.
The Aspire team beat Chile and England, drew with Thailand, and lost to Turkey to finish as runners-up in their group. They then overcame Kenya and Germany before losing their final match to Ukraine to finish 10th overall at the event. Juan Pablo Morales was the Aspire Academy Technical Coordinator for the trip to China.
“The tournament was good for us as we faced some high-quality opponents,” he said. “This type of tournament is important because we can see how players react to extreme high-performance situations, how they handle the demands, and.
