The Kanga Cup is a week-long international youth

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

held annually in

Canberra, Australia Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city, and the eighth-largest Australian city b ...

during July. The tournament is run as an open cup consisting of both male and female competitors with teams from diverse backgrounds including clubs, schools, associations and community groups coming together to compete in age groups ranging from U9s to U18s. The Cup is hosted by

Capital Football Capital Football is the trading name for the ACT Football Federation Incorporated, the state governing body for soccer in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but also has affiliated clubs based in surrounding areas of New South Wales. It i ...

and is sanctioned by

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

(FFA) and the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

(AFC). Since 2018 the tournament has been known as the McDonald's Kanga Cup for sponsorship reasons. The Kanga Cup is regarded as the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere and is the most coveted prize in youth football in Australia.

History

The Kanga Cup was founded in 1991 and held in

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

with 35 participants. The cup moved to Canberra in 1993 and has been played in the Australian capital ever since. In 2012, the Kanga Cup welcomed the first representative team from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

in the tournament's 22-year history as 16 players of Estrella Solitaria club from the small working-class town of Batuco, Chile made the long trip over to Canberra. Chilean Ambassador to Australia, Pedro Pablo Diaz, described the opportunity for these teenagers as an unbelievable trip of a lifetime and a chance for these kids to experience a different culture for the first time. He went on to say most of these kids were very poor and this was probably the first and last time they will get to travel internationally. 2013 saw funding cuts for the tournament from the ACT Tourism budget, with only $30,000 available compared to the previous year's budget of $60,000. However, despite the funding cut backs the Kanga Cup still recorded record numbers of participants and teams with 150 interstate teams and six international teams joining 92 local ACT sides. It was considered a particularly good year for local teams with fourteen making grand finals and six walking away with trophies. One of the biggest surprises of the 2013 Kanga Cup was the grand final win for the visiting U18 Philippine national team, the Teen Azkals. Team manager, Alvin Carranza, brought the team to the Kanga Cup under the banner of Carranz FC to get the next generation of the Philippine national team international experience. The win gave the U18s their first championship title and was used a preparation for the team's participation in the ASEAN Football Federation championship in Indonesia in 2014. 2014 saw a shift in focus for the tournament with a new marketing strategy adopted to ensure the tournament grew from previous years. The 2014 edition of the Kanga Cup saw it coincide with the middle of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

being held in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Previously this might have hurt numbers attending the Kanga Cup but the organizers broadcast the World Cup during the Kanga Cup to give the whole event a festival feel. Capital Football CEO Heather Reid, announced the 2014 edition of the cup as "the best ever", with a total of 274 teams having competed along with 144 referees, with 813 matches being played, and concluding with 29 grand finals played at Lyneham on the final day. The Kanga Cup celebrated 25 years of existence in 2015 with record entries of teams, officials, volunteers and participants. More than 340 teams turned out between 3 and 8 July from as far away as

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, as the event drew 7,000 players and a total of over 10,000 people to the ACT. 2015 Kanga Cup tournament director Michael Kelly declared the tournament a success, with fine weather gracing the week-long tournament until grand final day when rain set in. The 2017 edition saw a record number of players - almost 8000 - taking part, with 378 teams competing. A strong showing was also noted in 2018 with 360 teams participating, including teams from Ghana and Singapore participating for the first time. In 2019 more than 4500 players from 322 teams took part in the tournament, along with several thousand more coaches, parents and support staff. While around 25 per cent of teams were from the Canberra area, many had travelled from interstate and as far away as New Zealand, the Philippines and South Korea for the tournament. Expressions of interest for the 30th edition of the Kanga Cup, which was to be held in July 2020 were being sought from teams based within Australia and Overseas for what was expected to be the largest edition of the Kanga Cup to date. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

this was delayed to July 2021.

Format

The tournament is run as an open cup consisting of both male and female competitors with teams from diverse backgrounds including clubs, schools, associations and community groups coming together to compete in age groups ranging from U9s to U18s. Age groups are broken up into three divisions based on skill level where elite teams can face off against each other and social teams can play each other and enjoy themselves. Three categories are offered in most divisions. Cup Competition: Premier League teams, division one teams or district representative teams. Plate Competition: Newly promoted division one teams and division two teams. Shield Competition: Developing teams from lower placed divisions

Participants

International countries

The Kanga Cup provides an opportunity for participants to meet players from all over Australia as well as the world. Past international participants have included:

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and others. Social and cultural exchange is encouraged between competitors throughout the tournament, with a wide range of social activities available for participants and officials making the tournament a "cultural festival of football".

Local participants

Many local clubs in the ACT participate on a regular basis including Belnorth FC, Belwest FC, Belsouth FC, Belconnen United FC, Brindabella Blues FC, Majura FC, Canberra FC, Gungahlin FC, Marist College SC, Monaro Panthers FC, Radford College SC, St Edmund's College SC, Tuggeranong United JSC, Weston Creek FC, Woden Valley JSC and Woden Weston FC. As of 2018, Belnorth FC are the only club to be represented at every Kanga Cup tournament since its inception.

Match officials

The Kanga Cup attracts referees from local clubs, interstate associations and internationally. Currently there are connections with interstate bodies such as

Football West Football West is the state governing body for soccer in Western Australia (WA). It is affiliated with Football Australia (FA), the sport's national governing body, and through FA's affiliation to FIFA. Football West's premier competition is the ...

Football Brisbane Football Queensland Metro is a Football Queensland administrative zone encompassing the greater Brisbane area in Queensland, Australia, with surrounding areas including Caboolture, Ipswich, Redland City and Logan City. The premier men's football ...

Football Victoria Football Victoria is the state governing body for soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body. History Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the name Anglo Australian F ...

Football NSW Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of New South Wales, with the exception of the northern regions of NSW (the governing body for which is Northern New South Wales Football). Football NSW is a member of the nat ...

, Sutherland Shire Football Referee Association, Manly-Warringah Football Referee Association, Football Hervey Bay and Central Coast. In addition the Kanga Cup has connections with international organisations, including Auckland Football Federation (NZ) and Mainland Football (NZ). In past editions the Kanga Cup has attracted referees from as far abroad as England, Italy, South Korea, Hong Kong and America. To assist visiting and local referees for the tournament, Capital Football set up the Kanga Cup Referee Youth Academy (KCRYA). The KCRYA is a formalised camp endorsed by the FFA for Kanga Cup referees to participate in technical training during the week long tournament set-out by the FFA level three and four curriculum. Notable referees to have officiated at the Kanga Cup include former FA and

English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

referee Peter Walton in 2010 and current

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

and

referee Ben Williams.

Venues

The Kanga Cup is played across the city of Canberra at a number of different playing-fields from

Gungahlin Gungahlin () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory, one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. The district is subdivided into suburbs, sections and blo ...

Calwell Calwell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Arthur Calwell Arthur Augustus Calwell King's Counsel, KC (28 August 1896 – 8 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party, La ...

. Recent Kanga Cup host venues include: * Southwell Park, Lyneham (Kanga Cup HQ) * Calwell Playing Fields * Dickson District Playing Fields * Harrison District Playing Fields * Hawker Football Centre * Hawker Grass Fields * Mawson District Playing Fields * Latham Playing Fields * Downer Playing Fields (AWD competition) * Wright Park,

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...

Partners and sponsorship

Sanctioned by

FFA FFA may refer to: Aviation and military * First Flight Airport, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States * Free-fire area in U.S. military parlance * Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein, a Swiss aircraft and railway vehicle manufacturer * Fe ...

, AFC ,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Partners

''Current as of 5 July 2017'' Destination Partner: Visit Canberra
Merchandise Partner: Project Clothing
Travel Partner: JT Sports Tours
Photography Partner: Sports in Focus
Official Match Ball Supplier: Mitre

Major sponsor

''Current as of 16 July 2018'' McDonald's ACT & Queanbeyan
Former sponsors include:

Canberra Milk Canberra Milk is an Australian manufacturer of dairy products, milk products owned by Capitol Chilled Foods. The multinational company Bega Dairy & Drinks has a controlling interest in Capitol Chilled Foods, which is the Australian Capital Terri ...

, 104.7 Canberra,

Mix 106.3 Mix 106.3 (call sign: 1CBR) is a commercial radio station in Canberra, Australia and is owned by ARN and Southern Cross Austereo. Mix 106.3 plays current hits and a variety of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s music ( adult hits), primarily targeted at ...

, and

Murrays Murrays Coaches is an Australian express and coach charter company. History Murrays was founded by Bill Murray in the early 1950s as a school bus operator in Canberra. The operation was taken over by Ron Murray in 1970 by which time it was o ...

Broadcasting

Capital Football self-broadcast the 2015 edition of the Kanga Cup on YouTube with a live feed of the opening ceremony, day by day action and finals.

References

External links

Kanga Cup website

Capital Football website
{{AUS fb state ACT Youth football competitions Football Australia Soccer cup competitions in Australia Youth soccer competitions in Australia Soccer in Canberra Recurring sporting events established in 1991 1991 establishments in Australia