A youth football team from the capital has returned home to Edinburgh victorious after winning the infamous Gothia Cup in Sweden.
Seventeen lads, along with their coaching staff from Portobello CFA Thistle under-15s, travelled to Sweden on Monday July 17 to compete in a tournament against 206 sides within their age group.
The club played nine matches and beat a solid Norwegian team, Lillestrøm SK, 3-2 in the final of the tournament on Saturday July 23 in Gothenburg.
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The boys from Porty came up against a variety of youth club sides in their category which were representative of 20 different nations.
Portobello CFA Thistle, who are based in the East of Edinburgh, are made up of players from the capital and neighbouring East Lothian.
They compete in the first division of the South East Region Youth Football Association and decided in 2021 that they would participate in the 2022 Gothia Cup.
Niki Rae, the team captain, said that the team made history with their fantastic achievement. He said: “It was an honour to captain Portobello Thistle throughout the Gothia Cup tournament.
“We were all very excited to go and experience this. We all wanted to give our all into these games, do our best and most importantly just enjoy it.
“We are so happy to win the Gothia Cup. It is an outstanding achievement and everyone should be proud of what they have done. We made history”
This was the first time that the famous youth football tournament had been held since 2019. The Gothia Cup was first started in 1975 and is understood to be the world’s largest international youth football tournament.
In 2022, 1,603 teams took part from 59 different nations.
The Porty side thanked the generous support of their sponsors and the fundraising efforts of family, friends and supporters in the local community.
Head coach, Lee Demarco, celebrated his players by saying: “Portobello Thistle had a fantastic opportunity to compete at the Gothia Cup this year - the largest international youth football competition of its type in the world.
“Over the course of ten games in six days, the boys put in a fantastic team effort from start to finish, showing an unbelievable ‘never-be-beaten’ attitude.
“They demonstrated great spirit and determination to succeed throughout the competition. It was an incredible achievement to reach the finals against one of the top youth teams in Norway.
“It was a close, hard-fought game but the boys demonstrated great determination and strength to come back from behind and win convincingly with a 3-2 victory.
“The whole of Portobello Community Football Academy are incredibly proud of their achievement and were delighted to see them bring the Gothia Cup back to Scotland”
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