Governors Cup soccer tournament takes center stage this weekend
This weekend on Governors Island, roughly half a mile from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and a quarter mile from Brooklyn, NYC Footy will welcome approximately 1,200 players and 100 teams to compete in its annual co-ed Governors Cup, which began in 2019.
NYC Footy was launched in 2010 to bring better organization to recreational soccer.
“As a player in numerous rec (recreation) leagues prior to starting NYC Footy, I was seeking a more professional experience at the rec level,” NYC Footy CEO and Co-Founder Tarek told the AmNews. “Rec leagues are notorious for being one small step above organized pickup, and it was evident that to experience something more polished and professional, we’d need to create it ourselves. What we didn’t anticipate was just how much our vision for recreational soccer was almost universally shared by the soccer community here in New York City.”
The Governors Cup will feature seven-on-seven soccer teams composed of both men and women, as opposed to the 11-on-11 format of professional games.
Pertew said the unprecedented success of the Governors Cup is the byproduct of bottling the appealing attributes of rec soccer into one jam-packed day.
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“It offers the best elements of physical and mental wellness—friendly competition, camaraderie, social interaction, and outdoor play—and puts it into overdrive for a full day of soccer stimulation,” he said. “It’s become such a can’t-miss event that players will schedule major summer plans, including weddings, around the Governors Cup. Some folks request a delayed start to their internship, others return from a summer overseas.”
The event offers plenty of entertainment for spectators.
“As a soccer-loving spectator, there is probably no better place to be on June 1 or 2 than the Governors Cup,” Pertew said. “Our sponsors have become more numerous and the off-field activities have become more entertaining. We have fun sport-related activities from the likes of BetterPlayer, NYCFC, and Gotham FC, and product activations from Waterloo, Modelo, BodyArmour, and VAE Labs. Plus, this year, we are streaming the Champions League Final in our Beer Garden.”
Emily Li of No Hands FC reflected that “our team’s first year competing at (the) Governors Cup (in 2022) was right after our very first season competing as a team, including our first championship win. We were so excited to keep up the momentum, and the Governors Cup was the perfect opportunity to do so in-between seasons.”For more information about the Governors Cup, visit nycfooty.com or govcup.org.
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