Young talents win tickets to train at Liverpool, Man U
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Sakon Nakhon Pattanasuksa School and Khuru Prachasan School won the "Honda Red Champion
Players aged 15 to 18 joined almost 4,000 teams from across the country to compete in the event, which was inspired by AP Honda’s partnership agreement with both Liverpool and Manchester United.
Two separate contests, for tickets to train at either the Liverpool or the United academy, were held, with the national finals played at Rajamangala National stadium over the weekend.
Sakon Nakhon Pattanasuksa, regarded as rank outsiders among a round-of-32 featuring many of the country’s top school teams, stunned their opposition in a penalty shoot-out to earn a training stint at the Merseyside club.
The final of the Manchester United competition was also decided by a penalty shoot-out after the game between Khuru Prachasan and Bunlua Wittayanusorn ended in a 1-1 draw. The former eventually emerged victorious to earn a dream trip to hone their skills in Manchester.
In the national final pitting the two winners against each other, Sakon Nakhon Pattanasuksa again showed nerves of steel by beating Khuru Prachasan 4-3 on penalties after neither team could find the net in regulation time. They took home a scholarship fund worth Bt100,000.
After the huge success of the inaugural event, AP Honda director Suchart Arunsangroj said the company had already drawn up bigger plans for the next edition.
“We received a very positive response even though we were staging this event for the first time. We plan to make it even better second time around.
“We hope to upgrade the competition to make it more difficult, putting emphasis on football skills, which are very important in aiding talented children to develop into top players.
“There is talk that the government wants to join us in supporting the tournament. That’s great news as we want to see this event become a breeding ground for future Thai star players,” said Suchart.
