It’s coming home! Welsh team win major international trophy

Chris Pyke

A Welsh football team beat sides from all over the world to bring a prestigious trophy back from Canada.

Cardiff Bay Warriors FC, a team predominantly composed of Welsh Somalilanders, won the prestigious Somali Week Cup in Toronto, Canada.

The competition has teams from across Europe and North America competing for the trophy. The Cardiff-based side previously won the trophy in 2008, after near misses in back-to-back finals in 2006 and 2007, and are bringing it home after 16 years.

The team was led to victory by head coach and manager Ahmed Noor, who was an attacking winger in the 2008 winning squad.

Reflecting on the triumph, Noor said: “I am so happy for my players. Each of them put in 110% effort into this tournament, and that’s all I expected, especially after we came up short last year. We knew we had to dig deep this year to put things right, and it worked. All the training and preparation paid off.”

The Somali Week Cup, held every summer in Toronto, is a major event celebrating the Somali diaspora, bringing together football enthusiasts and communities for a week of competition and cultural exchange.

This year’s final saw the Cardiff Bay Warriors FC take on last year’s winners, SEIF FC, a team made up of players from across different parts of the world, including the UK and and North America.

The game was tightly contested, with a 0-0 scoreline at half-time. Late in the second half, the Warriors won a free kick outside the box. Abdifatah Noor calmly netted into the freekick, sending the 5,000-strong crowd roaring for the Welsh side. They held on to win the game 1-0.

Team Captain Mohamed Abdullah, affectionately nicknamed Sissoko, said: “I am so happy we’ve won and put Cardiff and Wales on the map in Toronto. Everywhere we went, people wanted to know where we were from. That’s down to our style of play and the never-give-up attitude we showed throughout.”

Chairman Ali Abdi added: “I’m speechless. We knew the tournament wasn’t going to be easy, especially after losing our first group game, but huge praises to our manager Ahmed Noor for getting his tactics and formation spot on from there on in to help us bring the trophy home to Wales. We can’t wait to celebrate with the rest of the community.”

On the weekend they enjoyed a homecoming celebration in Grangetown.

The team signed a partnership with Screen Alliance Wales, the recruitment specialist for the film and TV industry in Wales, last year, and had their name proudly adorned the team’s playing and training kits throughout the tournament.

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