11 moments to remember from 11 days of the University World Cup

The excitement and fervour of the first ever University World Cup – Football may be over but the inaugural tournament gave us many firsts, set benchmarks and paved the way for the future of university vs university competition that is bound to become one of the marquee events on the university sports calendar and the international football calendar in the years to come.

Looking back at the 11 days of scintillating action, here are our 11 favourite moments:  

11. Legend unveils the trophy

With one of FIFA’s ‘125 greatest living footballers’ unveiling the University World Cup – Football trophy, there could not have been a better start for the inaugural event. Juan Sebastian Veron, the legendary Argentine was in Jinjiang to give the green signal for the games to begin!

10. Brazilian Flash Mob

The women from Paulista University of Brazil showed us right from the start that they know a thing or two about footwork – not just on the field but off it too. Coming off a 17-0 win over University of Lausanne, they jumped in and joined a flash mob that was happening right outside the stadium.

9. Zhuocheng Wu’s incredible goal

Trailing 2-0 to the University of Malaga, Taiyuan University of Technology’s Zhuocheng Wu scored this unbelievable goal from 30 metres out, to narrow the gap. It still wasn’t enough to get them to the knockouts but it was the goal of the day.

8. Uruguayans know how to party

After their 2-0 quarterfinal win over University of Malaga, the University of the Republic celebrated like they’d won the final. Little did we know then, that they would in fact win the final and we’d see such celebrations again!

7. The ‘Bend it like Beckham’ goal

Jaw drop moment as Moritz Lotzen of University of Würzburg scored against University of Split, Croatia. What we found out later is that Moritz is the brother of Lena Lotzen, German national team member who also plays for SC Freiburg. Clearly, football runs in this family’s genes. With 3 goals in 5 matches, Lotzen was tied third in the list of top scorers in Jinjiang.

6. This Goal of the Day

Paulista University’s Gabrielle Da Costa won the women’s semi-finals day hands down; with the goal of the day and the celebration of the day.

5. Matchless commentary from Ben Ibrahim

We don’t do a best-of list without mentioning our effervescent commentator Ben Ibrahim. There’s no one quite like him when it comes to wearing his heart on his sleeve and helping viewers feel the excitement on the ground through his animated voice and reactions. Specimen A:

4. Marcus Beattie. Period. 

University of Wollongong’s Marcus Beattie was the revelation of the tournament. The Nutrition Science student knows a thing or two about scoring goals and often left the opposition defence stunned with his speed and accuracy. The tournament’s top goal scorer added two to his tally in the semi-final against Autonomous University of Mexico State and this is what he said to us afterwards:

3. Penalty Shootout in the Women’s Semifinal

Margot Shore’s block of the penalty kick from Xinyue Zhang of Beijing Normal University gave University of Ottawa the 2-1 advantage in the shootout and eventually the semifinal win too. Defining moment. 

2. The Winning Goal

It may not be the favourite moment of University of Wollongong, but this penalty kick from University of the Republic captain Santiago Pallares was a real beauty. Softly tapped into the bottom right corner, just out of reach of the keeper, it was enough for the title.

1. The Final Glory

Of course, the moment that will go down in history is the raising of the KELME 2019 FISU University World Cup – Football trophies by the University of Ottawa (CAN) and University of the Republic (URU). Images that will remain etched in the annals of university sport.