Winners of the Pepsi Street Skills 2008 competition arrived in Barcelona, their first stop of their five day tour meeting with top football stars and personalities which will include world renowned Pepsi football stars Fabregas and Henri.
In the evening of their arrival, the winners attended the UEFA Cup game between Barcelona FC and Wisla Krakow FC from Poland; which was held at the CAMP NOU Stadium in Barcelona.
“We’re very excited to be a part of this trip and to have the opportunity to meet with such high profile players in world of football and attend such games.” Stated Adel Jamal, from Saudi Arabia. “We’re very excited by the opportunities presented where we’d be able to see first-hand skills showcasing and also be able to play alongside these football stars in various events. It’s truly a dream prize and we’ll treasure the experience.”
Commenting on the initial start of the trip Mr. Ibrahim Binaquil, GCC Senior Brand Manager – Colas at PepsiCo International was quoted as saying: "We’ve just arrived in the first leg of our journey and already the excitement is quite high. We attended a UEFA cup game between Barcelona and Wisla Krakow and our winners were able to get briefings and updates from the other participating teams. More is to come and we’ll be sending our updates from each of our stops to showcase the specially prepared agenda and giving our young stars the Pepsi Dream Prize that they worked so hard to achieve.”
The 12 winners from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Oman were selected based on their skills and unique performance and innovative abilities as per the points system implemented by the judging panel. Taking part in the trip are Mohammad Saleh Maymoony, Adel Jamal, Ahmad Mohamed Fairaq, Saeed Bashath, Mohamed Abdulaziz Al Mouwaizry and Ahmad Noor Adam from Saudi Arabia; Mohamed Assheq and Omar Jamal from Kuwait; Mhaer Ahmed Ali and Abdullah Mohamed Melfi from UAE; and Asaad Abdullah Al Shbaibi and Badr Salem from Oman.
Pepsi Street Football Skills 2008 implements the highest standards of screening to select the best players, adopting techniques from last year’s challenge such as overcoming time and distance by using video for live communication between the players and the judges. A points system is used to evaluate the skills and capabilities of the contestants as they play in matches on private football fields measuring 40 x 30 meters.
Pepsi aims to commit to support and prepare the next generation of national football stars, and providing them with the highest levels of training with all the necessary experiences which can be implemented in their future career in professional football enabling them to compete at an international level.
