The Dunakanyar Régió UFC, as the only Hungarian youth training football club, maintains a professional relationship of several years with the world-famous Juventus football club, which cooperates with nearly 50 associations of the five continents. In addition to regular professional briefings and training sessions, the Juventus Academies World Championship is held in Italy every year. At the army review in June, Juventus Academy Hungary from Vác finished in 4th place among 21 teams in the U13 age group, which is the best result so far for the Dunakanyar Régió UFC – we learned from György Selmeci, the team’s head coach.
At the Juventus World Championship, the Danube Bend Region’s UFC team is called Juventus Akadémia Hungary, just as teams from all over the globe take to the field to represent their nations. Our youth training club has been cooperating with one of the best and most well-known clubs in the world, Juventus, for years. From Hungary, the Italian team only has professional cooperation with us. The World Championship of Juventus Academies was organized for the fourth time this year, and our association started every time. Until now, ninth place was our best result, which we surpassed this year with fourth place – informed György Selmeci, the team’s professional manager.
The expert said that the ceremonial opening of the World Cup in June and the closing ceremony took place in the Allianz Stadium in Turin, the stronghold of the world-famous Juventus. The rank of the festival of young footballers is shown by the fact that the former world-famous footballer of the Italian club is also honored with his personal presence every time.
During this period, the Juventus players spend their summer vacation, but the organizers always pay attention to the fact that the young people can meet former world stars. Last year, for example, the club’s former star footballer, the 2003 Ballon d’Or winner, the Czech Pavel Nedved, visited the young footballers, explained the expert. According to him, this year the participating teams were accommodated in the village of the 2006 Winter Olympics, in the beautiful and pleasant climate of Bardonecchia.
At the JAWC 2023 (Juventus Academy World Cup 2023) world championship, the Vác U13 team won 6 of the 9 matches played, drew 1 and lost 2.
Competing with the best bands in the world
In the U13 age group, 21 teams entered, and we ended up in fourth place. In the group stage, we won 2nd place, where the boys defeated, for example, the team of Wales 5-2, Egypt 8-0, and the Warsaw team representing Poland 5-0.
Among the matches played for reaching the top four, the guys played the best in the match against Chile, who performed very well, winning 2-1 against the South American team.
That was quite a feat! Unfortunately, our team played below its skills against Warsaw Academy, so we lost 0-3. The boys excelled again against the Guatemala White Academy: with their 3-0 victory, they were able to play for the bronze medal in the U13 age group against the Canadian Toronto Academy as the 2nd place in the group. In the 2×20 minute game time, there was a 1-1 draw, unfortunately we lost 3-4 in the penalty shootout, so we finished in 4th place in our age group at the Juventus World Championship. In the final, Guatemala Black Academy won 3-2 against Warsaw Academy.
As the professional manager of the Juventus Academy Hungary in Vác, how do you evaluate the team’s performance in the World Cup?
I am very satisfied with the team’s performance, my players played great football. We had several very good matches, perhaps the best were against Toronto and Chile. I sincerely regret the match against Warsaw, because we were noticeably deadlocked then and could not perform well. Overall, we managed to achieve the best result of our association so far, which we are proud of. We managed to participate in the Juventus World Championship for the fourth time and I can say with a calm heart that it is an unforgettable experience for the children every year. The organizers are doing an amazing job so that young people can really experience what it is like to participate in a world championship. It is important for us to measure our skills against Juventus Academy teams gathered from all over the world year after year. I can proudly say that our players stood their ground. The team’s players: goalkeepers Attila Kreisz and Benedek Varga. Ádám Kazár, Miklós Völgyi, Adrián Lakó, Balázs Márkus, Gergő Demeter, Bence Sipiczki, Dávid Farkas, Boda Botond, Andor Szomor, Imre Korda, Lőrinc Deák, Marcell Danics are field players. Head coach: György Selmeci, second coach: Tóth Marcell, technical manager: El-Meouch Kerim.
Juventus professionals help the Vác club’s professional development
From a professional point of view, what does the fact that they have been cooperating with a world-famous club for years mean for the UFC in the Dunakanyar Region?
It means a lot, because as we know, the Italian national team is highly rated internationally, Juventus plays in one of the five top leagues. They have a lot of professional experience, which – in addition to participating in the Juventus World Championship – they share with us three times a year at the one-week demonstration trainings and professional conferences held in Vác. They hold training sessions for our teams and teach training methodology, which until now, for example, consisted of four main elements, but this year it has been expanded to six. We can gain an insight into the Italian training system.
The head coach was happy to announce that the teams of their youth training association performed well in the Pest county championships. The association, which has been in operation for nine years, trains young people up to the age of 17, but it is part of the association’s philosophy that at the age of 13, more skilled players are guided to a higher level. Thanks to this, nearly 25 talented players transferred to higher-ranked clubs, including Fradi, MTK, BVSC, UTE Academy, Újpest FC or neighboring Gödöllő.
Thanks to the TAO support, nearly 100-120 young people are provided with professional training and the opportunity to participate in the championship.
For those who stay here and do not qualify for a higher division, we also started a team in the U15 and U17 age groups in the championships. On behalf of the club’s professional staff, I am happy to say that our youth training association is very popular among young people, the attractiveness of which is further increased by our excellent result achieved at the Juventus Academies World Championship! – declared György Selmeci, the UFC professional manager of the Dunakanyar Region.
Imre Vetési
