Frenz International Cup
The 2012 Frenz International Cup was the first international youth football tournament organized by Frenz United Football Academy. It took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as the host city from 28 December 2012 to 6 January 2013. The matches were played in three stadiums around the host city, with final played at the MBPJ Stadium, Petaling Jaya. Eight teams were invited for participation in the inaugural tournament. Players from each team must have been born on January 1, 1998, or later to participate in this tournament.
Astro Arena was selected as the official broadcaster, airing 10 live and 5 delayed telecasts of the matches, while RadioTVSports.com was selected as the official online media partner which covered most of the activities in the tournament, and Best Western Premier Dua Sentral was selected as the Event Hotel. The tournament was supported and sanctioned by the Football Association of Malaysia, Asian Football Confederation, Persatuan Sepak Bola Seluruh Indonesia and Selangor FA.
In the first round of the tournament, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. These four teams advanced to the semi final stage, to decide which teams would participate in the final.
Teams
Teams participating in the tournament were invited by the organizers. Teams invited in the inaugural edition were:Frenz United Malaysia
Frenz United Indonesia
Persepolis F.C. Academy
Slavia Praha
Chonburi F.C.
Incheon Selection
Venues
Three stadiums served as the venues for the 2012 Frenz International Cup.Petaling Jaya | Shah Alam | Bangi |
MBPJ Stadium | Shah Alam Stadium | INSPEN Stadium |
Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 80,000 | Capacity: 5,000 |
Both opening and final match were played at the MBPJ Stadium, Petaling Jaya.
Statistics
Group Stage
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage
Goalscorers
;4 goals;3 goals
;2 goals
- Najamuddin Samat
- Haziq Hossein
- Daniel Krejdl
- Choo Min Yeol,
- Reza Karimipiraghoom
- Mohd Akhmar Haiqal Azhar
- Ahmad Firdaus Ismail
- Muhd Shahrul Akmal Adnan
- Ruzaini Rusli
- Muhammad Amirul Haziq Rasmizal
- Myung Seong Jun
- Denis Nemcek
- Sittichok Paso
- Risman Tahir
- Kritthanaphong Paidaen
- Abdul Ali Nahumarury
- Reza Shekarighezelghayeh
- Saeed Hossinpour
- David Novak
- Muhammad Amirul Ashraf
- Mohd Syafiq Helmi
- Imanes Novan Rianto
- Martin Macho
- Filip Modorosi
- Marek Totkovic
- Adam Sokol
- Alex Kral
Prize money and awards
- US$50,000 – Champions
- US$25,000 – Runners-up
- US$15,000 – Third place
- US$10,000 – Fourth place
- US$3,000 - Astro Arena Most Valuable Player Award
- FIFA Fair Play Trophy
Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place |
Persepolis F.C. Academy | Frenz United Malaysia |
FIFA Fair Play Trophy | Most Valuable Player Award |
Slavia Praha | Lubomir Tupta |
Prizes were given away by Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Shah Tengku Abdullah.
Also present were FA of Malaysia vice-president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin and Frenz United Football Academy president, Dato' Noor Ihsan A Hamid and Astro Arena's Azman Fahmi Osman.
Remarks
Slovakia team manager Rastislav Sojak was full of praise of the smooth organization of the tournament and the massive media publicity it garnered."We are very certain the Frenz International Cup will grow bigger. In fact I am not exaggerating in saying it is already one of the best tournaments we have competed in terms of organization and publicity.
We compete in the UEFA-organised European Championship qualifiers of various ages and Frenz International Cup is comparable if not better especially in terms of publicity.
What is more important is that our players are given the chance to compete with youngsters from other cultures who one day will go on to create a name for themselves," said Sojak.
Future
Frenz United Football Academy president Dato' Noor Ihsan A Hamid said FUFA would look forward to making the event an annual affair."This inaugural tournament has given us an idea of our capability in staging events of international stature. It has certainly set the tone for future collaboration with our partners such as the FA of Malaysia and other stakeholders," said Noor Ihsan.