Exeter hosts World Cup

34 men’s and women’s teams took part in the tournament and each was assigned a different country to represent for the day. The overall men’s tournament winners were Italy while the women’s competition was won by South Africa.

The event, the first of its kind to be held, was organised by the Football Club in conjunction with the Student’s Guild International Society. Following the success of this event, it is now hoped that the tournament will take place every year. The Athletic Union and Student’s Guild are also now looking into organising further sporting events aimed at celebrating and integrating the University’s diverse international community.

Matt Brookland, a third year Exercise and Sports Science student, and Sam Tang, a third year Geography student, are joint Club Captains of the Football Club and helped to organise the tournament. On the success of the event Matt said, “It was fantastic to see so many students take part on the day. A wide variety of nationalities were represented and there was a really friendly atmosphere throughout.” Sam added “at Exeter we are fortunate to be part of a really diverse campus and we wanted to host an event that raised international awareness, participation and integration. We were delighted with the response from the student body.”

Darwin Huang, a third year Economics and Finance student, originally from Singapore competed as part of the Mexico team and enjoyed the event. He said, "The football competition was really well organised. I had a great day and met lots of new people.”

Odai Masharqa, a third year Economics and Politics student and President of the Student Guild’s International Society, helped to promote the event to the society’s members and other international students. Odai, of Palestinian and Serbian origin, was delighted with the success of the event, he said “We wanted to bring people of all nationalities together through sport while promoting and reinforcing equality and respect. I was delighted that the event proved to be so popular and I hope it will be held annually for many years to come.”

The event took place at the University’s Sports Park and was generously supported by Exeter City Football Club and Nando’s restaurant who supplied a host of prizes for the winning teams.