Nord Anglia Global Games, China- U11 Football a great success!

Saturday 2^nd November saw the Nord Anglia Global Games, China 2019-U11 Football come to an end. Once again the sun was shining from the get-go as the teams arrived all players and coaches headed into our valley area for the official tournament photo. After a few poses were struck the teams kitted up and made their way out to the football pitch to begin the morning’s fixtures. The boys and girls groups were exceptionally close at the end of play on Friday night with everything still to play for moving into the final day. The top four from the group would qualify for the cup semi-finals and final, 5^th-8^th would qualify for the plate semi-finals and final etc… There was high drama in the morning of day 2 as all teams came out battling and some fine performances from goalkeepers to keep the scores down.

Once the group games were concluded there was time for an adult penalty king and queen competition to see which participating schools teachers and parents would be Global Games Penalty King/Queen! Congratulations must go to the British School of Guangzhou, who secured a clean sweep of awards with some remarkable penalty taking.

At 1pm the knock-out phase began, there would inevitably be these scenes of jubilation and devastation as matches were decided by golden goals and the cruelest of match deciders, the dreaded penalty shootout. However, teams kept their heads held high and these matches were played in a wonderful atmosphere of sportsmanship and fairplay, from players, coaches and parents alike.

By the end of the afternoon there had to be two winners. Congratulations to the Hong Kong Knights from Nord Anglia International School, Hong Kong who won the boys competition after a hard-fought win over the BSBSLT Bulldogs from the British School of Beijing, Sanlitun. In the girls competition, congratulations to the BSB Bears from the British School of Beijing, Shunyi who secured the win with a narrow victory over the host team, BSN Foxes Yellow.

It was then get back to the buses, hotel for a quick shower and change before we all put on our finest outfits for the closing ceremony and awards, gala dinner and disco. A great evening was had by all and it was with a tinge of sadness that this fantastic festival of football had come to an end as we said goodbye to our visitors.

A huge well done to all players for their incredible efforts, sportsmanship and teamwork throughout the event and a big thank you to all coaches and parents for their efforts and support in helping to ensure such a successful inaugural Nord Anglia Global Games China U11 Football competition.

Well done everybody and we look forward to the next tournament in 2020.