From MYSA, two boys teams and one girls team will participate in Norway Cup, the world’s largest football tournament in terms of the number of players. The teams from Nairobi will join about 30 000 other youth and children from all over the world when Norway Cup kicks off on Ekebergsletta in Oslo on the 26th of July.
Ambassador Jacobsen said that: ‘Football is an important vehicle for peacebuilding. It does not matter where you are from, which ethnic group, religion or which language you speak when you play football. This is illustrated by Norway Cup where thousands of youth from all over the world get together to engage and form new friendships through football.’
MYSA has participated in Norway Cup since 1990. With 8 tournament victories the association has earned quite a reputation among Norwegian football enthusiasts.
About Norway Cup
With football at the core, Norway Cup is a pioneer in several areas. The tournament is a forerunner on aid projects involving sports. In collaboration with Norwegian Football Association (NFF) Norway Cup runs aid projects in several developing countries. In the 1980s they started projects in both Kenya and Tanzania, where the objective was to inspire young people to take part in sport activities as well as to get them involved in other issues, such as combating AIDS.
Norway Cup is also known to be a key advocat for gender equity in football. At Ekebergsletta women have played football on an equal basis as men since the beginning in 1972.
Norway Cup has been presented with several awards, including the UEFA award (2002), UNICEF’s honourable prize (1995) and the Youths Peace Prize (1993).