Andrew Henderson, Séan Garnier and STRskillSchool, three of the biggest names in freestyle football, have all confirmed their involvement at the upcoming Soccerex Football Festival taking place on 5-6th September in Manchester at Old Granada Studios.
The Festival’s showpiece event, the T3 Tournament, will be the platform for the freestyler superstars in attendance to pit their skills, trickery and flair against a host of footballing legends such as Jay-Jay Okocha, Gaizka Mendieta and Luís Boa Morte.
Completing the T3 lineups are 5 members of freestyle footballing royalty:
· Soufiane Bencok, 2 x European Panna Champion and star of FIFA Street 4
· Leammsi, International street and Futsal player
· Edward van Gils, founder of the Street Kings team and a pioneer for street football worldwide
· Issy ‘Hitman’ Hamdaoui, creator of the Akka 3000 and Issy Akka moves,
· Orry Stoc, world renowned street soccer and panna player
In addition to the tournament, the Festival will be hosting the UK & Ireland Freestyle Football Championships in partnership with the Freestyle Football Federation which will see up to 50 challengers competing head-to-head to try and be crowned the most skilful trickster in the UK & Ireland.
As a 3x World Freestyle Champion and 5x, and current, UK Freestyle Champion, Andrew Henderson is widely regarded as the best freestyler in the world and key driver in its development around the world. Having appeared in adverts with Sure deodorant and performed at the 2014 FIFA World CupTM in Brazil, Henderson is a role model for any young freestyler in the making.
Garnier is one of the world’s most iconic street football players, freestyler and YouTube celebrity and has featured in a number of videos with the likes of Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo. He was the star of FIFA Street 4 computer game and the creator of the Street Style Society team.
Steve Roberts the creator of STR Skill School, one of the world’s largest YouTube channels for football skills and tricks, has been at the centre of freestyle football’s explosion on the internet with his YouTube videos receiving millions of views from a global audience.
The Festival, currently in its second year in Manchester, is growing in size and will be spread across three distinct areas, covering 1,600+ sqm. Free to attend, visitors will be treated to a 3-on-3 ‘T3 tournament’, featuring the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha and Gaizka Mendieta, Panna Cages and freestyle tutorials with the likes of Sean Garnier & STR Skill School.
The Soccerex Football Festival has previously been held on the Jumeirah beach in Dubai, Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg and Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.