ESN JKL Cup II

On a bright autumn day in Jyväskylä the weather gods were smiling upon 12 football teams and their fans. The football gods, however, only favoured one team.

Group picture before the final match

The tournament had attracted 12 teams to compete for the victory of the second ESN JKL Cup on the 20th of September. About 100 players, both boys and girls from all around the world took part in competing for championship of the most international football tournament of Jyväskylä.

Teams were definitely giving their all and were not afraid to fight hard for the ball even on the rough surface of the campus field. Already after the first round of the tournament our vice president Annika had to become a nurse and patch up the players for the following games. Luckily we didn't see any big injuries thanks to the gentlemanlike manner players were behaving in the games and the great work of the referees.

The tournament had three teams that had players from the first ESN JKL Cup: 69, The Vikings and Fiesta Warriors. During the quarter-finals Fiesta Warriors seemed to have changed the first letter of their team name to an S and the tournament ended short for them. 69 and The Vikings met on the semi-finals where after an exciting match The Vikings turned the game in their favour.

The teams of the final match of the tournament, Tettenham and The Vikings, played against each other already at group stage. At the first game Tettenham had been clearly dominating the field but in the final The Vikings managed to keep up with Tettenham during the first half. But as the game continued Tettenham started to gain more and more control and in the end they had a clear victory. For some of the players of The Vikings this was now the second time of losing the final of ESN JKL Cup. But maybe third time’s the charm?

Tettenham had been dominating all of their games since the the beginning of the tournament and were clear victors of the second ESN JKL Cup. The captain of the team Pepe commented the tournament and their performance: “First of all, we are grateful with ESN Jyväskylä. It was a really good journey. Nice weather, good organization and the most important thing: having fun! In fact, this was our theme during the tournament. The performance of the team was amazing. Thanks to all of them: Andrea, Andreas,Coach Clement, Enrico, Esco, Javi, Martin, Paula and Shin!  Since the first match until the final we kept the game on high level. Nähdään ensi turnauksessa!”

Tettenham celebrating their victory

I’m also looking forward to the next ESN JKL Cup in spring 2015. Thank you for all the players, referees, audience and ESNers who were helping to organize the tournament! I hope next time we can make this event even better!

-Marjut