July 16 – International Champions Cup organisers Relevant, has expanded its tournament footprint into youth competition with the ICC Futures event that kicks off today at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.
ICC Futures features 24 academy and selection-based teams from the US and Europe, the European teams being drawn from clubs who have played in the International Champions Cup.
All the players are in the U-14 age including 8 teams from Major League Soccer’s Development Academy (Real Salt lake, Seattle Sounders, New York red Bulls, NYCFC, LA Galaxy, Philadelphia United, DC United, Houston Dynamo), 8 State-represented All-Star teams and eight European academy teams (Liverpool, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid, Celtic, Bayern Munich).
Teams are in eight groups of three, with group winners progressing to the quarter finals. The final will be played July 22.
Sanctioned by youth soccer organisation US Club Soccer, the tournament has Rakuten as its main sponsor and is supported by Hertz.
The teams will battle each other over the course of 7 days in a bracketed tournament, with the winner being named the International Champions Cup Futures winner. The ICC Futures will certainly be an unforgettable event.
The quarterfinals will be televised on ESPNU on July 20, the semifinals on ESPNEWS on July 21, and the final on ESPN2 on July 22.
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