‘Enjoy the tournament weekend’

8 June 2024

While the last team photos are being taken outside, the teams are slowly trickling in and heading towards their designated long tables in the sports hall. Once all the teams have taken their seats, Marco Frank, the tournament chairman, warmly welcomes everyone to the 34th international Marveld Tournament in Groenlo, speaking in several languages.

This year, two new teams are participating in the tournament, namely the Chinese Football Boys from China and FC Nordsjaelland from Denmark.

“Over the course of three days, a total of 42 matches will be played, with the highlight being the final on Sunday at 3:45 pm,” says Frank, briefly outlining the history of the tournament and then displaying the names of famous professional footballers who have participated in the tournament in the past, an impressive list indeed. Large shoes to fill for the future stars of tomorrow.

Then, attention is turned to a celebratory event: PSV is participating in the tournament for the 25th time this year. In 1997, the Philips Sport Association participated for the first time and has since won the tournament three times. Some well-known ‘PSV players’ who have participated in the tournament over the past quarter-century include Ibrahim Afellay, Cody Gakbo, and Memphis Depay. Marco Frank emphasizes the special relationship between the tournament and the club, referring to PSV as ‘friends of the tournament.’

Finally, it is up to councilor Jos Hoenderboom of the municipality of Oost Gelre to officially open the tournament. Using Google Translate, he welcomes the teams in their own languages, except for Chinese, as he did not dare to attempt that. The tournament chairman concludes the opening with the words: “Enjoy the tournament weekend!”