The Foyle Cup is a youth soccer tournament held every year in Derry City, County Londonderry,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Along with the

Milk Cup SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area o ...

, which takes place around the same time, The Foyle Cup is one of Ireland and indeed Europe's premier youth tournaments.

History

The competition began in 1992 with only eight teams competing. It is seen as one of the most important and pivotal tournaments in

, as it presents an opportunity for the youth of Northern Ireland to show their abilities. Academy teams of such European clubs as

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

and

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

have participated in the tournament, along with teams from the U.S. and Canada in recent times. It is widely recognised as a tournament that launches the careers of young players aspiring to sign professional contracts. In 2003 former

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

player and current Sunderland chairman,

Niall Quinn Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player he was a striker who played top flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City and S ...

launched the tournament. The 2006 competition was launched by

Lawrie Sanchez Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a Northern Irish football manager and former international footballer. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon a ...

. In June 2007, Foyle Cup chairman, Michael Hutton confirmed that the 2007 competition will feature special guest,

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

legend

Phil Neal Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full back. He is one of the most successful English players of all time, having won seven First D ...

. The competition has been

title sponsor Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

ed by local businesses such as Football special cola and Hughes insurance.

Location

All Foyle Cup matches are played around County Londonderry and the surrounding area, including

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

and Strabane. Final matches are played in The

Brandywell Stadium The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium ( ga, Tobar an Fhíoruisce ) is a municipal football stadium with an adjoining greyhound racing track in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C. and (temporari ...

, although, from time to time, it may vary.

Notable past participants

* K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen *

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were dis ...

* AC Horsens * Altrincham FC * AFC Bournemouth *

Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...

Norwich City F.C. Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the ...

* Port Vale F.C. * Sheffield United F.C. *

Sheffield Wednesday F.C. Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

* Montpellier Hérault SC * Arminia Bielefeld *

* Cherry Orchard F.C. * Bohemians F.C. * Derry City F.C. * Finn Harps F.C. * Letterkenny Rovers F.C. * Brescia Calcio * Armagh City F.C. * Ballymena United F.C. *

Coleraine F.C. Coleraine Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club, playing in the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of the Irish League. The club, founded in 1927, hails from Coleraine, County Londonderry and plays its home matches ...

* Glentoran F.C. * Institute F.C. * Linfield F.C. *

Aberdeen F.C. Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were ...

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

Heart of Midlothian F.C. Heart of Midlothian Football Club, commonly known as Hearts, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Professional Football League. Hearts, the oldest and most successful football club in the S ...

* Hibernian F.C. *

:Other regular teams to appear * Derry and District League Youth Teams * USL Youth teams

References

{{Association football cup competitions in Ireland

External links

Official Site
International association football competitions hosted by Northern Ireland Youth football competitions Youth association football in Northern Ireland