Playing on the asphalt, with respect for each other and without the referees - these are just some of the qualities that mark the movement of street football. The most important event in street football culture this spring will undoubtedly be the "Ghetto Football” Euroleague, which started this weekend at the home of the Italian Colosseum in Rome. Ghetto Football Euro League comprises eleven unique 3 vs 3 street football tournaments in eleven European countries with thousands of talented street football players and a total prize pool of € 10,000. The Football Euroleague will take place in eleven countries - Italy, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and will end with the final, the most important competition event, in Riga, the capital of Latvia, on June 8th, in which the best European 3 vs 3 street football teams will compete.
On April 16, in Ostia, Italy, the Ghetto Football Euro League featured a full range of street football - 3 vs 3 street football, football freestyle and Panna 1v1 competitions.
The one-day event started with the popular football freestyle competition, the main essence of which is to perform various tricks with a soccer ball using different parts of the body. 20 participants from seven countries of the world, one each from Japan, Scotland, Iran, Russia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and 14 football trick masters from Italy competed for a paid trip to the largest alternative sports and street culture event in the Baltics "GGFEST". At the end of the day, the winner was Jesse Marlet from the Netherlands, who we will also see in Ventspils, Latvia, from July 22 to 24.
Alongside with the football freestyle competition, there was a "Panna 1v1" competition, where the main task is to hit the ball between the opponent's legs, but you can also win the game if you hit more goals than the opponent. The Italian Swann Ritossa proved to be the best in this competition of nine participants. His mastery we will also see at the GGFEST festival in Ventspils.
The most exciting part of the day was 3 vs 3 street football in which a ticket to the “Ghetto Football Euroleague” final in Riga, held on 8th of June, was at stake. The street football tournament was divided into two age groups - U15 or people born in 2007 and younger, and 16+ or no age limit. A total of 120 participants (30 teams) took part, where players from Latvia, Italy, Libya, Belgium and the Netherlands competed for several hours.
The most masterful team in the U15 age group was Mundial FC, which also becomes historically the first champion of the Ghetto Football Euro League in the youth age group, but the most masterful in the 16+ group was the team “Street Monsters” with renowned street football masters - Ahmed Rakaba (Libya), Soufiane Bencock (Belgium), Jeand Doest (Netherlands). "Gladiators Rome" was crowned as the best Italian team, which together with "Street Monsters" have won the first two tickets to the Super Final in Riga.
Winners of the “Ghetto Football Euro League” in Rome:
U15 age group:
- “Mundial FC” - Cristian, Davide, Massimo, Valerio (Italy)
- “Orange Football Team” - Alessandro Maddini, Fracesci Coderoni, Matias Guerra (Italy)
- “Arturinho FC” - Fares Trabelsi, Enrico Fares, Cristian Cristiano (Italy)
16+ age group:
- “Street Monsters” - Ahmed Rakaba (Libya), Soufiane Bencock (Belgium), Jeand Doest (Netherlands)
- “Gladiators Rome” - Marco Midulla, Claudio Ciferri, Arman, Daniel (Italy)
- “Nome squadra” - Cristian, Alessandro, Riccardo, Tommaso (Italy)
Winners of the individual Ghetto Football Euro League in Rome:
Panna 1v1 - Swann Ritossa (Italy)
Football Freestyle - Jesse Marlet (Netherlands)
A photo gallery from the Rome event can be found here: GALERY
Next, the Ghetto Games team will travel to Croatia, where they will hold the second of the eleven events in Dakovo.
Events calendar:
April 22nd - Dakovo, Croatia
April 24th - Hungary, Budapest
April 30th - Czech Republic, Prague
May 4th - Belgium, Brussels
May 7th - Netherlands, Amsterdam
May 11th - Denmark, Copenhagen
May 14th - Germany, Berlin
May 18th - Poland, Warsaw
May 21st - Lithuania, Vilnius
June 8th - Latvia, Riga, "GHETTO FOOTBALL EURO LEAGUE 2022" final.
You can follow the Euroleague on ghettofootball.net or @ghettofootball and @ghettogames Instagram accounts.
Ghetto Games thanks partners “DaMove”, “The Spot” for organizing the Italian event, as well as partners "FOOTWORK SHOP", “Dzintars”, “Rāmkalni”, “LaLiga”, “Ghetto Games Shop”. The project is co-financed by the European Union under the “Erasmus +: Sports” program.