Within the second phase of the Pepsi Street Skills 2008 in the GCC which is organized by Pepsi, the competitions concluded yesterday June 11, 2008 in Jeddah after the Kaki football field witnessed a sharp competition between more than 300 youth who put in all their efforts to win a once in a life time trip to meet the Pepsi stars Fabregas, Messi and Henry in Europe. The next stop will be the city of Abha on June 14, 2008 where competitions will take place in the South region in the Al Najma football field.
Ibrahim Binaquil, GCC Senior Brand Manager–Colas at PepsiCo International, was not able to express the excitement and the challenges which were evident in the competitions in Jeddah, but he confirmed that the presence of families and friends in the playground’s stadium chanting and cheering for the players, before and all throughout the competitions, sparked the hearts of the players with spirit and competition, and made them bring out the best of their skills and football capabilities. Ultimately the jury had to make a difficult decision and chose 5 talented players to compete in the challenge which will take place on a Kingdom level.
Indeed, the jury announced the qualifying competitors in Jeddah: Ahmad Fayraq, Adel Jamal, Battar Mohammad, Meteab Maizar and hatim Azhari. The excitement will also take place in Riyadh on June 18, 2008 where the jury, who were selected from elite football coaches in the Kingdom, will choose the winners from the talented football players, followed by UAE competitions and finally Oman.
Each participant was able to demonstrate his skills in two minutes and take part of the challenge where the jury documented the skills and the abilities of each player through videos made by the committee, making sure that the player has the capabilities necessary to qualify for the next phase, where by consumers will be voting for the best skilled players in an attempt to point out the final winners on GCC level (KSA, UAE, Kuwait & Oman).
Because of the huge number of young hopefuls who want to take part in the competition, Pepsi provided convenient alternative methods of applying for registration through phone, Pepsi’s website www.pepsiarabia.com and the organizing company’s website www.axemevents.com.
Pepsi had commenced registration for its Pepsi Street Skills 2008 Challenge event, which will be present this year in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman. This unique journey in search of young football talents is for teens between the ages of 14 – 19 years. The winners will have a once in a life time opportunity to meet the Pepsi stars Fabregas, Messi and Henry in London and Barcelona this summer.
Pepsi Street Skills 2008 challenge follows high standards for testing and selecting winners, where the judging committee utilizes the latest technology which proved its efficiency, such as video clips that is creates better communication between the jury and the players. The “points” method will also been followed in evaluating the football players while playing competitive games which will take place on 30 x 40 meters playgrounds. The competition’s organizers will provide all players free drinks and refreshments.
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.
