ANB Academy Futbol invited to "Challenge Jean Pingeon" for 4th consecutive year

January 7, 2013 (RELEASE) --

ANB Academy Futbol has once again been invited to participate in the prestigious "Challenge Jean Pingeon" tournament hosted by SM Caen in Normandy, France, taking place on 11 & 12 May, 2013. However, this year the team will compete in the U-11 age division. The thirteen players (2002 born) representing ANB Academy Futbol will travel to the formation centre of SM Caen (Ligue 2 - France) before the tournament and spend one week training on the club's grounds, watch the Senior club train and hopefully attend a professional match.

In 2013, "Challenge Jean Pingeon" will be in its 12th year, and in the weekend tournament, ANB Academy Futbol athletes will be competing against professional clubs such as SM Caen, PSG, AJ Auxerre, AS Nancy, and Le Havre, among others. The tournament is a rigorous 2 day event, with teams playing a series of 12 min. games in a 9 vs. 9 format, the normal formation format for French youth teams at this age. Last year, ANB Academy Futbol finished 2nd out of 32 teams in the U-13 age group. Based on the team's performance, some older players will be joining the younger team in order to attend a try-out in SM Caen's Formation Centre.

Head Coach and Academy Director, Bassam Naim, expects a challenging tournament due to the quality of the teams and youthfulness of the ANB players , "We will be bringing a very young team to the tournament for the first time. The speed of play will be very high, even at this young age, and we will have to train the players for this type of competition. We are very grateful to SM Caen for the opportunity to participate in the tournament once again." ANB Academy will be making preliminary player selections for the team entering the tournament however, space on the team will be made for any player who demonstrates superior soccer attributes and can assist the team in its performance.

Tournament qualification rounds are still being held in France, and the playing groups will not be published until the club entries have been finalized. Further information on the tournament can be found on the SM Caen website, www.smcaen.fr
ANB Academy's vision is to become Canada's leading futbol development organization. Its mission is to identify Canadian futbol talent, and to maximize the potential of players at any level, through professional coaching and training.

For more information on the programs offered by ANB academy, check out our website site at www.anbfutbol.com or by telephone at 905-313-8661 or via e-mail at info@anbfutbol.com