Germany didn’t win the World Cup, Holland did!

Junior World Cup players at Hopwood Hall College with Hopwood Hall College staff helpers. Tom Conroy, Hopwood Hall College football development manager is second from the right on the back row

It wasn’t Germany but Holland that won the World Cup... well in the junior World Cup run by Hopwood Hall College!

To celebrate the World Cup the College hosted a special junior version for children aged four to eight. Almost 70 children signed up to take part and every week the young players, who had been put into teams representing the countries playing the Cup, competed in the football tournament.

The tournament was set up in the College’s weekly football training sessions for children*. Over four weeks, the teams battled it out, but this week, it was Holland and France that were left to fight it out in the final for the winning spot.

It was a nail biting game, which by the end of the first half saw Holland in the lead by three goals. In the second half France managed to equalise and as the full-time whistle blew it was a draw, which meant it went to penalties! In the end Holland won through but everyone agreed it was a great game played by all.

Following the game, the College presented medals and certificates to all the players who had taken part in the tournament.

Tom Conroy, the College’s football development manager, commented: “It was great to see so many children want to take part in the tournament.

"The World Cup has been an excellent way to help promote the game and it was a good way for the children to not only hone their match playing skills but also have the chance to learn about the countries they were representing as a team too.

"We’ve had such great feedback from the children and their parents, and I think we’ll see lots more children playing football on a regular basis now as a result.”

In a bid to get more local children into football, the College will also be opening up its state-of-the-art 3G football pitches, to allow young people aged 14-16 free use of its facilities on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, from 3-6pm, from 21st July. Tom continues: “We really want to inspire more people into football and we hope by running tournaments like the junior World Cup for the younger children and free access to our amazing facilities for the older children that we can do just that.”