Liverpool’s favourite international football tournament is back!
The tournament that seemingly knows no limits returns to Liverpool for its fourth edition next week and this time it promises to be bigger – and possibly even better – than ever before.
Celebrating the diversity of Merseyside, World In One City is truly a festival of football and then some, having started from somewhat humble beginnings and last year saw clips of wonder goals go viral overnight and thousands of fans down for its dramatic conclusion.
Started by Imad Ali, the WIOC is a community-led, international football tournament run in the style of a World Cup with national anthems, kit and all the passion, and often the quality, that comes with the real thing.
Imad would be the first to admit he couldn’t dream of doing it all by himself and with help from a team of local volunteers, the whole team work tirelessly to make the event as close to the real thing as possible – with remarkable success…
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Attracting players with multi-ethnic heritage from around the world year in and year out, the fourth instalment has the potential to supersede everything that has gone before with 16 nations involved including first-time qualifiers Albania, Namibia and Ireland.
Bangladesh, Brazil, Congo, England, Guinea Bissau, Jamaica, Libya, Nigeria, Rest of the World, Somali Team, Yemen, Zimbabwe and returning champions West Indies make up the tournament that kicks off at Leisure United Jericho Lane on Monday night.
All of those nations will be battling out to compete in the showpiece final on Sunday, June 30 at 2pm to be in with a chance of lifting what is already becoming a highly coveted trophy, following in the footsteps of England, Nigeria and of course last year’s winners.
WEST INDIES v YEMEN – WORLD IN ONE CITY TOURNAMENT – FINAL – LIVERPOOL (2/7/23)
Attending the pre-tournament media day – with feisty consequences – representatives from the nations were in attendance as well as organisers ahead of what looks set to be a hotly contested competition with all countries looking for one final upper hand in the build-up.
From the manager of Zimbabwe promising a ‘little present’ to fighting ‘takeover’ talk from Ireland ahead of their group clash with England, all the sides seem determined to make their mark on the increasingly popular month-long event.
During the press conference, Nigeria and Namibia exchanged pleasantries side by side as they prepared to face off, whilst the Somali Team made one simple promise…once again bringing the noisiest set of supporters.
Some key takeaways from the media day from a playing perspective were growing confidence from the Bangladesh camp in spite of the ‘criticism’, Albania embracing their ‘underdog’ status as they look to shock the masses and Congo – perhaps the story of the tournament last season with moments of magic and staggering comebacks – head into the 2024 tournament brimming with belief.
Meanwhile, organisers batted off claims of previous ‘very very poor officiating’ and instead focussed on the community element of the event, ‘huge and growing’ crowds, attracting new audiences and the quality of football which is ‘definitely’ set to increase.
With the friendly preparations and trash-talking all in the bank and the team harmony *almost* at its peak, the time for talking is now over and the action will commence.
Entry for all games is free and whilst the action is certain to be enthralling, the fantastic format and fun-filled event make it one not to miss and I would urge you if you can to get down and enjoy what is genuinely one of the most enthralling spectacles in what can only be described as a carnival of football.
