Following two action-packed days in Barcelona, the 12 young winners of the Pepsi Street Skills 2008 Challenge today flew on to London where they spent the afternoon upgrading their football skills at Chelsea Football Club’s new multi-million pound training academy at Cobham, Surrey.
The winners attended the first game of the Premiere League season for Chelsea FC against Portmouth ending with a 4 – 0 win to CFC. After the match the winners met with Michael Essien and Peter Cech for a Q&A session and photo opportunities.
The state-of-the-art facility is designed to unify all football activities at Chelsea in a campus style setting, providing an inspirational environment for aspiring first teamers. The main building features the latest in training, rehabilitation, medical, pitch and media technology.
“Chelsea FC’s new training academy is really impressive and surpassed all our expectations,” said Mr. Ibrahim Binaquil, Senior Brand Manager – Colas at PepsiCo International, who is accompanying the winners on their five day trip to Europe. “The academy truly lived to its purpose of providing the very best facilities and the training session was a highly beneficial experience for the young Gulf stars.”
“The Chelsea Training Academy is awesome,“ said Ahmed Fairaq from Saudi Arabia. “It was so exciting to be in the same place where the great players in the English premier club’s first team also train and a great inspiration to all of us on this dream trip to football wonderland.”
The Pepsi prize winners are spending three days in London before returning home and have a couple more days of thrilling events to look forward to.
The 12 winners 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; Maher Ahmed Ali and Abdullah Mohamed Melfi from UAE; and Asaad Abdullah Al Shbaibi and Badr Salem from Oman.
The 12 best players were selected based on points awarded for their football skills and individual performance abilities. For the judging system, the highest standards of screening were implemented including techniques adopted from last year’s challenge, such as overcoming time and distance by using video for live communication between the players and the judges. The skills and capabilities of the contestants were evaluated as they played in matches on private football fields measuring 40 x 30 meters.
Pepsi is committed to supporting and preparing the next generation of football stars by providing them with the highest level of training and giving them opportunities to gain experience which will help them to achieve their ambition of a career in professional football and competing at an international level.
About PepsiCo International
PepsiCo International is one of the world’s premier consumer products companies focused on convenience foods and beverages. With a presence in the GCC dating back more than 50 years, PEPSICO today operates through a network of ten local bottlers, producing and marketing products which include Pepsi Cola, Mirinda, 7UP, Mountain Dew, Tropicana and Aquafina.
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