Sport
Limerick Five a Side Soccer Team Wins Irish Final and Place in Neymar Jr’s Five Tournament in Brazil
Limerick Five a Side Soccer Team Wins Irish Final and Place in Neymar Jr’s Five Tournament in Brazil – The team is made up of 7 players from Limerick, Sligo and Galway and is captained by UL student Niall Smith
Limerick Five a Side Soccer Team Wins Irish Final and Place in Neymar Jr’s Five Tournament in Brazil
A seven-man Limerick soccer team is off to Brazil this June for Neymar Jr’s Five a global five a side tournament sponsored by Red Bull.
‘Whoyaplayin’ took home the national trophy after besting 185 teams and over 1,300 players throughout the preliminary stages of the tournament before securing their place in the Irish final in Belfast.
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In its first year, Neymar Jr’s Five had over 65,000 players take part from 47 countries. But now in 2017, the tournament is bigger than ever. More than 50 countries spread over 6 continents hosted tournament qualifiers in a bid to get their teams into the Finals in Brazil.
The Limerick team was captained by Niall Smith from Askeaton. The Sports and Exercise science student from UL plays junior soccer with Aisling Annacotty.
Joining him is his Annacotty team-mate Gavin Dillon from Abbeyfeale, also in the team is Kildimo’s Paulie Walsh and David Lynch, who plays with Summerville Rovers. They are joined by UL student Lorcan Feeney from Sligo and Galway duo Sean Keogh and Eoin Roache
They will now represent Ireland and join over 65 teams from 53 different countries in the Neymar Jr’s Five World Final in Praia Grande, the home of Neymar, this June.
The rules of the tournament are two teams made up of five players face off in a 10-minute game. There are no gender limitations for teams and players must be aged between 16 and 25 however, 2 players from the team can be over 25. Each team can have a maximum of 7 members (5 players & 2 substitutes).
When one team scores a goal, the other team loses a player and the game ends when the ten minutes are up or when one team loses all of their players.
In all of the Ireland qualifiers, a total of 407 teams made up of 1,308 players took part. Ireland is currently ranked 15th in terms of goals scored. Globally over 23,000 teams consisting of 87,134 players have competed making this the world’s largest amateur five a side tournament.
Best of luck to ‘Whoyaplayin’ and all of their players when they travel to Brazil this July to compete in the Finals.
For more information about the tournament, including statistics and match results click here
For more stories on Limerick sport click here
