After a four-year break caused by the pandemic, the World Championships for Children from Orphanages took place on August 12 and 13, 2023. It was the 8th edition of this tournament.
Over 200 young players from 21 countries came to the Legia Warszawa stadium: Croatia, Ukraine, Belgium, Portugal, Thailand, France, Estonia, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Uzbekistan, Madagascar, North Macedonia, Jordan, Latvia , Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, Montenegro and Poland. Over two days, they played 61 matches and scored a total of 379 goals.
All matches showed great football skills. The atmosphere was amazing and all the kids showed amazing feelings. The smiles never left their faces.
After the first day of the competition and 45 group stage matches, the best 16 teams advanced to the 1/8 finals. Among them, after another dozen or so matches, four teams remained in the fight for the World Champion title: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Uzbekistan. After the semi-finals, Belgium and Uzbekistan remained in the fight for the gold medals.
After an extraordinary final, Belgium won against Uzbekistan 1-0 and thus became World Champions! In the match for third place, Poland turned out to be better, beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 6:3.
As every year, in addition to team awards, the best participants were also honored with individual awards:
Best player: Bartosz Przebinda, Poland
Best female player: Ivana Mučišta from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Top scorer: Baabia Deam from Belgium
Best goalkeeper: Jerko Claessens from Belgium
The happiest player: Narindra Tahiriniaina from Madagascar
Youngest player: João A. C. Rodrigues (2015) from Portugal
“Biedronka Hope” Award: Patryk Nowak from Poland
The Fair Play award went to the team from Madagascar.
Congratulations to all the winners!
