The I VCF Academy World Cup begins this Friday at the Ciudad Deportiva, running through to Sunday and bringing together 10 teams from America, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Around 150 Under-12 players from Lithuania, USA, Canada, South Korea, Holland, Greece, Cyprus and Morocco gather to enjoy football, take in a unique cultural experience and benefit from the facilities offered by Valencia CF.

All 10 teams will face each other in 8-a-side action, in what will be a total of 55 games. The full schedule can be found here:

https://www.tournify.es/live/valenciaworldcup-demo/schedule

In addition to the matches, the representatives of each of the delegations will be able to enjoy games and activities in the Fan Zone set up next to the pitches.

Ahead of kick-off, on Thursday the opening ceremony was held at Mestalla. Each team paraded across a playing surface full of flags of the different participating countries, with the Valencia CF anthem playing out at the stadium.

The event was attended by the Director General of Valencia CF, Sean Bai, Executive Director, Joey Lim, Director General of the VC Foundation, Teo Swee Wei, and the Director of the VCF Academy, Luis Martínez, who thanked attendees for their commitment and the work they will carry out to consolidate the Valencia CF international project.