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Manchester United Premier Cup 2012
09-12-11 11:02
   

Football NSW is pleased to announce that invitations have been issued for teams to participate in the Grade 15 Manchester United Premier Cup for 2012.

The competition is for Grade 15 Youth League clubs and for this season’s tournament invitations have been issued to Premier and Super Youth League clubs and will be played at Valentine Sports Park on the on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of February 2012.

Matches will consist of 25 minutes each way; they will be scheduled for Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening, the schedule is designed to limit matches being played in the warmest hours of the day.

To facilitate a workable draw it has been decided to select the twelve (12) 2012 Premier Youth League teams, together with the top three (3) U/14 2011 Super Youth League teams and one (1) U/14 2011 relegated Premier Youth League team.

The draw will consist of four groups of four playing in a round robin phase and will be seeded according to the final positions on the 2011 points table. The top two of each group will qualify for the quarter finals; winners through to the semi-finals, winners through to Grand Final and the winner will qualify for the next round of the Manchester United Premier Cup.

The cost of the 16 players and two officials travelling to Melbourne and Beijing will be met by sponsors of the Manchester United Premier Cup.

Further, due to the possibility of hot weather, we will be playing under the interchange rule, however once again, when the winning team progresses to the next stage, the interchange rule will not be used.

The successful team will be invited to attend the Pacific Finals in Melbourne from the 23-25 March, 2012. The winner of the Pacific Finals will be given the opportunity to participate in the World Finals of the Manchester Premier Cup to be conducted in Beijing with more details confirmed at a later date.

The finals date has been set for Saturday 3rd of March 2012 to determine who the successful team will be in flying to Beijing.

Originally the finals were set to be held at Manchester but due to both Old Trafford being used as an Olympics venue for 2012 and Carrington going through renovations, the city of Beijing will be used as part of Manchester United's first team tour through China but more details will be confirmed shortly.

http://www.footballfedvic.com.au/index.php?id=321
2012 Nike Manchester United Premier Cup
About
Nike and FFV would like to invite one Boys' Under 15 team per FFV registered club to compete in the State Finals of the Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) for 2012. Clubs will participate in a knock out competition held in February and March at the State Football Centre in Thornbury.

The winner of the Pacific competition must be prepared to represent the Pacific in the World Final with a squad of 15 players, coach & manager. Further details about the World Final will be confirmed once available.

Please visit www.manchesterunitedpremiercup.com for 2011's competition details.

Team Entry
Click here to enter a team. Only 35 entries will be accepted.

Team entries will close on Wednesday 8 February.

Cost
Entry into the 2012 MUPC is free.

Dates
Date
Time
Tournament Stage

Wednesday 29 February 2012
6.30pm - 9.30pm
Group Stage

Thursday 1 March 2012
6.30pm - 9.30pm
Group Stage

Friday 2 March 2012
6.30pm - 9.30pm
Group Stage

Saturday 3 March 2012
9.00am - 7.00pm
Group Stage

Sunday 4 March 2012
9.00am - 7.00pm
Group Stage

Monday 5 March 2012
6.30pm - 9.30pm
Group Stage

Tuesday 6 March 2012
6.30pm - 9.30pm
Group Stage

Wednesday 7 March 2012
6.30pm - 9.30pm
Group Stage

Saturday 10 March 2012
9.00am - 4.00pm
Quarter Finals/Semi Finals

Tuesday 13 March 2012
7.00pm - 8.00pm
Final


Group stages of the 2012 MUPC will primarily be held midweek to provide clubs with increased rest periods between fixtures. Midweek matches also have the added benefit of avoiding potentially warmer temperatures.

The need to capitalise on weekend pitch availability remains and multiple fixtures on the one weekend day per club will still be required.

All State finalists will compete in a finals weekend held from Friday 23 March to Sunday 25 March 2012 to determine the Pacific Finalist.

Depending on the number of team entries, the use of all of the above dates may not be necessary.

Player Roster
Clubs will be required to submit a player roster by Wednesday 22 February.

To be eligible to compete all players must be registered on MyFootballClub with the Club that they are playing for in the MUPC in 2012. Clubs will only be permitted to include a maximum of four players on their roster that were not registered with the club in 2011.

Any player participating in the 2011/2012 Victorian Champions League (VCL) must ensure that their participation in the 2012 MUPC does not compromise their continued involvement in the 2011/2012 VCL. Any player found to miss VCL training or match day commitments due to involvement in the 2012 MUPC will be removed from their club’s 2012 MUPC playing roster, and will not be permitted to play in the 2012 MUPC.

Rules of Competition
In summary, the 2012 MUPC Rules of Competition for the State Finals are that:
- games will consist of 25-minute halves;
- squads will consist of 16 players with substitutions not interchange;
- three (3) players from five (5) substitutes named on the team sheet may be played per game.

The 2012 MUPC Rules of Competition will be available online on Tuesday 24 January.

Manly beat Sydney Utd 2-0 to qualify for the Pacific Finals.

It was 0-0 at FT. The boys lost in a shootout

Fantastic effort for a side that wasnt amongst the favourites

Keilor Park won the tournament from a NZ side on penalties.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/wswanderersfc/news-display/Wanderers-unveil-inaugural-home-strip/47852

“Supporting grassroots football is a key driver for Nike, and one of our key initiatives for young players is the Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC). Considered the premier Under-15 tournament in the country, Nike brings together the best teams from around the Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific with the finals being held in Melbourne over recent years

“As part of our association with the Western Sydney Wanderers FC, we are pleased to announce that the MUPC tournament finals will now be held annually in the Western Sydney region.

"This hosting right offers the Wanderers organisation a fantastic connection to the youth of the game and will uniquely position the club as a connection between Australian grassroots football and the world stage,” he added.

Hi Arthur,

Complete newb here. Can you tell me if Tasmania entered any teams in this competition? From what I can see they haven't. If this is the case any idea why they didn't?

How are teams entered for the Queensland side of the competition?

MUPC 2012 : Coaches have their sayEvery year, twenty teams from over 8,000 qualify for the Manchester United Premier Cup World Finals. They have all proved themselves locally, but how will they fare on the biggest U15 stage of all?

This year, the 2012 edition of the MUPC World Finals is being held in Shanghai, China and here we look at what some of the Coaches have to say as they head for Shanghai.

We start with local host team Shanghai FA, Tournament hosts Manchester United and Pachuca, MUPC World Champions and runners-up to FC Barcelona in 2010.

Shanghai FA is taking part in the World Finals for the first time, and coach Zhang Yong has ambitious hopes for his team; that they will better the 9th place previous best finish for a Chinese team and reach the quarter finals. However, success is not the only thing that matters and he also sees the tournament as an opportunity to learn:

“This young team has been playing together for the last 6 years, but they unfortunately lack international experience. This tournament should be a great opportunity to see what they can do against new teams and new styles of play.”

Shanghai will have to face some difficult challenges; Mexican team Club Pachuca have qualified for the third successive year and are here to defend their title, having won the 2011 World Finals in Manchester. Their coach Miguel Gomez Leyva warns of their great form coming into the tournament.

“These young players have been playing together for the past two years. They won the National U15 tournament in January, and will hopefully carry their good form to the MUPC finals.”

Another team that definitely knows the ins and outs of the Manchester United Premier Cup is, of course, Manchester United. As host team they have participated in every single edition of the World Finals since 2003, their best result to date coming in 2004 when they finished 2nd to local rivals Manchester City. United coach Tommy Martin believes the experience the young players gain is instrumental to their development at a young age.

“This is a young team that has only been playing together for three months, but they are all skilful young players, and we simply wish for them to perform to the best of their abilities. Every single team present poses a serious threat at the MUPC World Finals, so our tactics will have to be adaptable in order to deal with the various challenges each team will bring to us.”

Other European teams have the benefit of youngsters playing together for many years. Internazionale’s Salvatore Cerrone is hoping that the intuition and positional awareness that comes from his team playing together for the last five or six years will pay dividends.

“These young players have grown up together; they’ve won two Championships and two national tournament trophies. They’re all delighted to have come this far.

“Rather than focus on the opponents, we will try and apply our own game and tempo – although we lack physical strength we work well together. “

Sinisa Orescanin from Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb may be leading his team to their first World Finals, and is realistic about the challenges presented by playing in Shanghai, but that does not dampen his enthusiasm for the task ahead:

“Unfortunately the time zone and climate changes won’t help us, but we hope to make it to the play-offs. By then we should have adapted and will be able to show our full potential.

“Our team is very compact and has a lot of character. We have no particular weaknesses, and we fear no-one! The players are all proud of their achievements, and are exceptionally motivated to do well at the World Finals.”

Training and preparation for the young athletes travelling to the MUPC World Finals has become key to success, and according to team coaches Jorge Raffo Hoffmeister & Saverio Valente, the youngsters from Boca Juniors have benefitted from an elite training programme but are also encouraged to learn from the personal experience.

“Our good performances are in part down to our special Integral Training method, which involves working on every aspect of our players’ games, including technique, tactical awareness, and system maintenance.

“MUPC 2012 is a fantastic opportunity, not just in sporting terms, but also as an important experience in their young lives. They have high hopes and expectations. I have confidence in my team, but so many other teams from around the world are unknown to us. Adjusting to this will be the players’ toughest challenge.”

Head Coach Koji Kamogawa says that previous experience has helped MUPC Champions from Japan, Gamba Osaka prepare for the physical challenges ahead.

“In the past our team has lacked experience when coming to the MUPC World Finals, but this current team has participated and won the Emperor’s Takamado Cup twice in the past two years.

“It may be challenging to play against the teams that are physically strong, but we will help one another to hold out against those teams. We would like to get as far as possible not only for the result, but also so we can continue to test ourselves against the best youth teams in the world.”

Coach David Nyathi from Ajax Capetown summarised the feelings of the teams who have fought their way through different stages of competition to reach the ultimate footballing experience for U15’s.

“The entire team is incredibly proud to be here. They have all worked hard, and they deserve it. They were unbeaten in the regional finals this year, and they want to go on.

“We respect every team taking part. We are of course here to win, but it is more important that we learn as much as we can from the experience.”

What will this year’s World Finals bring to each of the twenty clubs present in Shanghai? Only time will tell