World Cup Under-17

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Now, I know that our European readers are well aware of the World Cup (that's the soccer World Championship for us here in the U.S.). This giant soccer (football) tournament is held every four years, and in Colombia pretty much everything stops while the games are played.


There is also a World Cup U-17, for players Under 17 years of age. It is going to be held this year in Nigeria from October 24 to November 15. Rather than every four years, the tournament is held every two years.

The process to decide which teams will be represented is rather long and hard fought. It pits all the teams of the CONMEBOL (South American Football Association -- one of FIFA's 6 continental confederations) against each other. The CONMEBOL includes some of the world's top football (soccer) teams like Brazil and Argentina. It also includes heavy competition from Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The exciting news had in Colombia this weekend is that Colombia has qualified to participate in the tournament. THIS IS BIG NEWS!!

The best showing that the Colombia U-17 (Sub-17 in Spanish) team has made was in 2003 taking 4th place in the tournament.

Learn more about Colombia's Qualification for the tournament, or just look at the pictures, by reading the following newspaper article from El Tiempo.

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