Article content
An Edmonton soccer tournament promoting world peace takes the field this weekend after a two-year break due to COVID-19.
Article content
The Canada World Peace Soccer Tournament runs Aug. 20 and 21 with eight countries represented at this year’s tournament — Brazil, Somaliland, Congo, Ethiopia, Namibia, Eritrea, India and Senegal.
Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Captain Abdull, said he is excited to organize the tournament for his return.
“Everybody’s coming back, life’s coming back and everybody is happy to play again,” said Mohamed, adding the tournament is all about Canada and how “beautiful” the country is.
In 2019, more than 20 teams signed up to represent their country in the tournament and Mohamed said he hopes more teams will join next year. He added that he plans to expand the tournament to children in 2023 and his long-term goal is to take the tournament outside of Canada.
Article content
Mohamed said sports are a good way to bring the community together.
“Soccer is the No. 1 in the world, the No. 1 game in the world and it brings peace,” he said.
“Everybody forgets about the politics, forgets about all this kind of stuff and it makes people happy and brings people unity.”
For the first time, the Canadian World Peace Team will face off against the Edmonton police. The game is scheduled for 5:30 pm Sunday, ahead of the tournament’s championship match.
The games take place at the Queen Elizabeth High School field starting at 11 am on Saturday and 12 pm on Sunday. Mohamed said it’s free for all Edmontonians to attend.