Thanks to a city application made by INDER Medellín with the Agency for Cooperation and Investment of Medellin and the Metropolitan Area – ACI Medellín, 13 athletes from the capital of Antioquia will travel to South Korea to represent the country in the Son Heung Min International Youth Football Tournament. The event receives its name in honor of the prestigious Tottenham Hotspur player from England who supports the event through his football academy.
The event, which will take place in Chuncheon, South Korea, is sponsored by the prestigious Tottenham footballer, Son Heung Min
“In Medellín we continue betting on sports as tools for social transformation. We’re letting the city know that 13 children are going to South Korea to fulfill a dream. This delegation shows Medellín that we can transform the realities of the young people in our Comunas (districts), who are often exposed to other realities, but today, we can say that we have the proper conditions to offer them a better future”, said the director of INDER Medellín, Cristian Sánchez.
The kids were selected after several months of training and scouting work with more than 40 players, among users of INDER Medellín, sports clubs in the city and the Antioquia discipline league. They are all children from different districts of the city, Bello and Itagüí, and the coaching staff is headed by Diego Toro, a former professional football player.
The athletes’ selection process included psychotechnical tests and a medical examination to identify the weight, height and muscle mass profile, as well as their strength, speed and coordination capabilities.
“As a coach, you’ll always want to get to know new cultures, a different kind of football, so for me it’s a nice experience, just like for the boys. For many of them, this will be the first time they get on a plane, and just that is part of our innovation. We have to go to represent our city and our country in the best way possible”, said the technical director, Diego Toro.
Teams from six countries were invited to the event. The team from Medellín is the only representative of Colombia. There, they will meet athletes from South Korea, China, Mongolia, Russia, and Vietnam.
“For me, this trip represents the dedication, effort and attitude that I have always put into football. It represents the love of my parents knowing that football is my passion, taking me to practice, taking me to different clubs and playing in championships”, commented Samuel Geovo Murillo, one of the team players
The tournament is an 8-a-side football tournament for under-12 athletes and will take place from June 8th to June 12th at the Son Heung Min Sports Park in Chuncheon, South Korea. The purpose of the friendly category contest is to generate bonds of friendship between the participating teams.