CBF president hails success of the Copa do Brasil Under-15 | OneFootball

Samir Xaud and Branco present the trophy to the championsCredits: Rafael Ribeiro / CBF

CBF president Samir Xaud attended the final of the first edition of the Copa do Brasil U-15, played on Saturday afternoon (August 1) at Granja Comary in Teresópolis (RJ), and praised the success of the competition, which brought together 32 clubs and had more than 600 registered players. He congratulated all the participants, especially finalists Internacional and Palmeiras.

“We’re bringing our first Copa do Brasil U-15 to a golden close, a unique opportunity for clubs and for these kids to get closer to the home of Brazilian football, inside the national team environment. They’ll carry this with them for life. We want to invest more and more in our youth ranks, creating this integration between all the youth staff and the senior national team to develop Brazilian football. This Saturday, we saw a very hard-fought, highly competitive match here between two teams that played very well throughout this tournament. We’re wrapping up the Copa do Brasil U-15 today already with that taste of wanting more next year, and that is CBF’s commitment to Brazilian football, and especially to the foundations of our game,” said Samir, shortly after presenting the trophy to the champions.

Samir Xaud, Julio Avellar, and Branco during the medal ceremonyCredits: Rafael Ribeiro / CBF

For CBF Competitions Director Julio Avellar, the success of the Copa do Brasil U-15 was the result of integrated work by several departments and the entity’s presidency.

“First of all, I’d like to highlight the changes that have taken place in the youth calendar. We have a total of 711 matches in the men’s youth categories on this year’s calendar. And this specific competition, the Copa do Brasil U-15, is something we had been trying for a few years to get off the ground. Under the new administration of President Samir and the entire new CBF management group, we finally managed to launch it, with the icing on the cake being bringing the final stage of the competition here to Granja Comary. That carries a lot of symbolism. Holding this tournament and its final stage here at Granja, the birthplace of several renowned players and the site of preparations for countless World Cups, is very important for the development of Brazilian football,” declared Julio Avellar.

Guilherme Dalla Déa, coach of the U-15 national team, and Carlos Eduardo Patetuci, coach of the U-17 national team, also took part in the medal ceremonyCredits: Rafael Ribeiro / CBF

Four-time world champion Branco, who is CBF’s coordinator of the men’s youth national teams, was also very pleased with the outcome of the Copa do Brasil U-15.

“First of all, yes, I want to thank President Samir Xaud, the entire CBF board, Rodrigo Caetano, our executive, Cícero Souza (general coordinator of the men’s national teams), always ready to exchange ideas, and Julio Avellar, our Competitions Director. We had been fighting for this competition for four or five years. And thank God it happened. I’m very happy and proud. It was an idea from all of us to boost Brazilian football. You see these kids at the grassroots level, and you can tell everyone is happy, everyone praised it. It’s the first one, for sure, and it’s been a spectacular success. Congratulations to all the clubs, the 32 that started, and those that reached the final, in this case Inter and Palmeiras. This is the path to the future of Brazilian football,” Branco commented.

Euphoric over the title, Internacional coach Douglas Rodrigues highlighted the seriousness of the work done by the club since the start of the season.

“We know the effort these kids put in, everything they did, you know? And our staff too, the effort everyone made for this to work out, and it did. We knew it was going to be very difficult. Palmeiras has one of the best youth systems in Brazil. Our group was committed, everyone gave their all. We devoted this entire half of the season to competing in this tournament. The kids improved and earned it,” Douglas emphasized.

Team captains and referees pose for photos before the matchCredits: Rafael Ribeiro / CBF

Scorer of one of the goals that secured the title—the one that started the comeback—Asafe said he was living out a threefold dream: becoming champion, winning at Granja Comary, and finishing as the tournament’s top scorer—he scored 9 goals and tied with Gabriel Bueno of Palmeiras.

“I have to thank God, who has been blessing me and honoring me always. I’m very happy because I always aimed for this, I always had the hunger to score goals, to be the top scorer. And I want to congratulate the entire staff for the opportunity, and the whole group for their dedication and focus. And for this historic title, right? Because it’s the first Copa do Brasil U-15 and we became champions. I can only thank God, my team, and the opportunity given by the coaches. I want to thank my family. I love them. And being champion on a field, in a place where so many stars have already trained and played, that’s the realization of a dream, right? Many young academy players dream of coming to Granja Comary. The feeling is very good, very rewarding, full of happiness and joy.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.