Chris Punnakkattu Daniel with the Manchester City FC U-10 team at the 10. PT Sports Juniorcup 2018 in Verl, Germany. (© CPD Football)
The 10th edition of the prestigious PT Sports Juniorcup took place in Verl, Germany from May 31 to June 3, 2018. More than 200 clubs from various countries took part in the U-9, U-10, U-11 and U-13 categories.
The line-up of Germany’s biggest age-group tournament featured the youth sides of renowned clubs such as FC Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Olympique Marseille, SL Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Deportivo La Coruna, Crystal Palace, amongst many others.
I had the pleasure to attend the tournament on Sunday and I was able to witness some quality football by the young lads. Many spectators were really surprised to see the tactical cleverness, discipline, passing and technical skills by the youngsters. One could see that these boys started to play football at an age of 4, 5 or 6, which is common in European football and youth development on the continent.
I also would like to applaud and higlight the Manchester City U-10s, who really impressed me not only with their football skills, but especially with their respectful and orderly off-pitch behaviour. It’s great to see that Manchester City is putting so much emphasize on certain values which people forget about nowadays.
Here are a few highlights from my visit to the 10. PT Sports Juniorcup 2018…