A moment of celebration, sharing and excellence. Under the eyes of Guy Stéphan and Franck Raviot, members of the staff of Didier Deschamps’ French team, FC Tokyo won the famous Sens tournament without borders on Monday. The Japanese team, in U 14, defeated Olympique de Marseille at the end of an indecisive final (0-0, 4 tab to 3). This is the first time that a team from Asia has won this famous tournament with teams with high-sounding names (Juventus, PSG, Liverpool, Dortmund, OL…). For almost thirty years, this meeting has been awaited by many observers of young footballers.
“At the time, in 1994, we went for it,” says Raphaël Raymond, the organizer of the TSF, in Yonne Républicaine. We wanted to create a competition so that the young people from Chaillots à Sens could play against big teams. We contacted them. At first it was a bit of a joke. And finally Bordeaux answered the call. And then we went to see others and said: “Bordeaux is coming, don’t you want to come?” I still remember this excitement when waiting for responses from the clubs, by fax or letter, to find out if they accepted the invitation.
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This 29th edition did not deviate from its reputation, with high-level meetings, under the eyes of numerous recruiters who came for the occasion to observe the talents of tomorrow gathered over four days. But also Guy Roux, legend of French football, who came from neighboring Auxerre. Because it is a meeting of talents, in which most of the 2018 world champions such as Ousmane Dembélé, Blaise Matuidi and Raphaël Varane participated.
For this 29th edition, the best player was Samy Bedjia and the best goalkeeper Bleron Celiku, both playing for OM. On the goalkeeper side, Harushiro Matushita, winner of the tournament with FC Tokyo, shone throughout the competition. Names that could be talked about in the years to come…
