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Manchester United Premier Cup
Founded1993
RegionWorldwide
Current championsGhana Right to Dream Academy (1st title)
Most successful club(s)Spain Barcelona
(3 titles)

The Manchester United Premier Cup is a global youth football tournament that was established by Nike in 1993.

History

The tournament was established by Nike in 1993 as the Nike Premier Cup and featured 624 teams from 15 European countries.[1] The following year, the tournament expanded into the Asian continent, increasing the number of teams to 1,067,[2] before adding a further 284 teams from the Latin American region in 1995 to reach 1,351 competing clubs.[3] Chile hosted the first South American tournament that year as Universidad de Chile were crowned the first Latin American champions of the competition.[3]

In 1996, the tournament was reorganised to include a World Finals stage following the regional tournaments. The regional tournaments served to whittle down the competing teams from over 2,500 to just 12 for the finals tournament held in Cape Town, South Africa in 1997.[4] This structure was followed from 1996 to 2001, when it was decided that the host team and the national champions from 13 countries would be given direct qualification to the finals tournament, with the remaining six places in the 20-team tournament given to the teams from the Europe, Middle East, Latin America, South East Asia and Africa regions. In 1998, Athletic Bilbao won the tournament final in Paris and the winning players were rewarded with seats in the Stade de France for the final of the World Cup as hosts France defeated Brazil 3−0.[5]

In 2003, to coincide with Nike replacing Umbro as kit sponsors of Manchester United, the tournament was re-branded as the Manchester United Premier Cup.[1] The following year, Manchester City became the first English champions of the youth tournament, defeating hosts and city rivals Manchester United through a goal from Daniel Sturridge.[6][7]

Dinamo Zagreb became the first Croatian and Eastern European side to win the tournament, defeating Milan 2−1 at Old Trafford on 9 August 2013.[8] The following year, Dynamo Moscow became the first Russian club to win the tournament, beating Valencia 1−0 in the final on 9 August 2014.[9] The tournament has continued to grow since its formation as a regional tournament in 1993 and, in 2014, over 8,000 teams and 1 million players competed in Premier Cup tournaments from 43 countries to gain one of 20 places available at the Premier Cup World Finals in Manchester.[1]

Premier Cup World Champions

Season Winners Host country Venue city
1993–94 Portugal Porto (European)[10]
1994–95 Spain Real Madrid (European)[2]
Malaysia Malaysia (Asia-Pacific)[2]
1995–96 Spain Espanyol (European)[3]
Malaysia Bukit Jalil Academy (Asia-Pacific)[3]
Chile Universidad de Chile (Latin America)[3]
1996–97 Argentina Platense[4]  South Africa Cape Town
1997–98 Spain Athletic Bilbao[5]  France Paris
1998–99 Spain Barcelona[11]  Spain Barcelona
1999–2000 Brazil Internacional[12]  Netherlands Amsterdam
2000–01 Brazil Vitória[13]  Germany Berlin
2001–02 Brazil São Paulo[14]  Portugal Lisbon
2002–03 Brazil Corinthians[15]  United States Portland, Oregon
2003–04 England Manchester City[6]  England Manchester
2004–05 Brazil Fluminense[16]  Hong Kong Hong Kong
2005–06 Mexico Guadalajara[17]  England Manchester
2006–07 Spain Barcelona[18]  England Manchester
2007–08 Brazil Fluminense[19]  England Manchester
2008–09 Brazil São Paulo[20]  England Manchester
2009–10 Spain Barcelona[21]  England Manchester
2010–11 Mexico Pachuca[22]  England Manchester
2011–12 Chile Universidad Católica[23]  China Shanghai
2012–13 Croatia Dinamo Zagreb[24]  England Manchester
2013–14 Russia Dynamo Moscow[25]  England Manchester
2014–15 Ghana Right to Dream Academy[26]  England Manchester

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Manchester United Premier Cup". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Tournament History - Year: 1994-1995". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Tournament History - Year: 1995-1996". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Tournament History - Year: 1996-1997". MUFC. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Tournament History - Year: 1997-1998". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  6. ^ a b "England: All Stars Worldwide - Daniel Sturridge". MUFC. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  7. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 2003-2004". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  8. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 2012-2013". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  9. ^ "2014 MUPC World Finals: Old Trafford Final, match report". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. 9 August 2014. Archived from the original on 20 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 1993-1994". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  11. ^ "Andrés Iniesta Luján FC Barcelona 1999". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  12. ^ "Tournament History - Year:1999-2000". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  13. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 2000-2001". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  14. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 2001-2002". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  15. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 2002-2003". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  16. ^ "Rafael & Fabio Da Silva Fluminense 2005". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  17. ^ "Tournament History - Year:2005-2006". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  18. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 2006-2007". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  19. ^ "Tournament History - Year: 2007-2008". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  20. ^ "Sao Paulo crowned MUPC Champions 2009!". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. 9 August 2009. Archived from the original on 30 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  21. ^ "FC Barcelona crowned MUPC2010 Champions". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. 8 August 2010. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  22. ^ "Tournament History - Year:2010-2011". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  23. ^ "Universidad Catolica crowned MUPC Champions of the World". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. 25 July 2012. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  24. ^ "MUPC Champions of the World - Dinamo Zagreb". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. 9 August 2013. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  25. ^ "Dynamo Moscow MUPC 2014 Champions of the World!". manchesterunitedpremiercup.com. Archived from the original on 20 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  26. ^ "Right to Dream win MU Premier Cup". Manchester United F.C. official website. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
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