The dream is on

Orn Chanpolin will get to follow his dream in Saigon

Two members of the Phnom Penh Crown Academy, Orn Chanpolin and Chhuot Senteang, will line up with 48 same-age Vietnamese youngsters next week, all hoping to get selected as the best three players who will get the chance to try-out for a scholarship at the Aspire Sports Academy for Excellence in Qatar. The Aspire Football Dreams programme is exactly what it says, an opportunity for these boys to live their dream and to be part of a world-class football academy. No less than 60,000 boys aged 13-15 from Vietnam have been taking part in regional trials, alongwith around 600 youngsters in four centers in Cambodia. Chanpolin and Senteang were the best of the Khmer trialists after sessions were held in Phnom Penh, Pursat, Kompong Chhnang and Battambang. The top fifty boys will now undergo the final selection phase; an intensive three day assessment period at Thanh Long Sports Complex in Ho Chi Minh City from 6-8 August. The best three youngsters will then head for a critical month in Doha, Qatar for careful evaluation, training and development from Aspire's dedicated team of experts before their futures are decided. Amongst the coaches who will assess the boys in Saigon will be Lionel Messi's former coach, Arseni, as well as Xavier and Oscar (who also came to assess the boys in Cambodia), all from FC Barcelona. Make no mistake, Aspire are taking this very seriously. They started their unique scouting project to identify talented young footballers across the world in 2007. The boys are selected based on their physical, tactical and team integration abilities. Both Chanpolin and Senteang are fourteen years old and have been part of the Crown Elite Academy since its inception. Chanpolin hails from Phnom Penh and usually plays in midfield whilst Senteang, from Banteay Meanchey, is a striker who doubles up as a very good goalkeeper. Accompanying them to the Saigon trials will be the Crown Academy head coach Bouy Dary, who also leads the Cambodian U-14 national team.
Update: The two boys have returned home after their Aspire experience in Ho Chi Minh. They both enjoyed the opportunity to pit themselves against the 48 Vietnam youngsters but ultimately didn't qualify for the top two places that were selected to go to Qatar. Chanpolin made the final best twenty and both acquitted themselves extremely well according to Bouy Dary. Aspire are keen to expand their talent search throughout Cambodia next year and more trials will be held, which will increase the representation from Cambodia.

Weekend aspirations

Back in April I told you to keep your eyes peeled for a plan to uncover the very best young footballers in the country. Aspire Football Dreams is a worldwide search for the stars of tomorrow. Since 2007, when the project was launched, over 1 million young footballers from Asia, Latin America and Africa have been tested to see if they have what it takes to become a top player of the future. With support from Nike and Unicef, and with the involvement of coaches from Barcelona, the top players from each region travel to Doha in Qatar and are hosted at Aspire Academy, where they receive top-level training during their sports scholarship. Now Aspire are bringing their search to Cambodia and will hold trials this coming weekend in four centers to identify the best footballing talent aged 13-15 years old. The first trial will be at the RSN Stadium in Tuol Kork on Friday when 200 boys are expected to attend, including members of the Phnom Penh Crown Academy, then the trials will move onto Pursat, Battambang and Kompong Chhnang with similar numbers of youngsters involved. The coach-scouts from Aspire and local coaches such as Bouy Dary and Sam Schweingruber will pick only the very best, perhaps three at the most, who will move onto the final selection stage, to be held in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam next month, and from there the best of the best from Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam will go to Qatar. This is a never-before opportunity for the cream of Cambodian youth football to rise to the top. Let's hope they make it.

Aspire to be the best

Keep your eyes open for a plan this year to find the very best young footballers in the country. Aspire Football Dreams is a worldwide search for the stars of tomorrow. Since 2007, when the project was launched, over 1 million young footballers from Asia, Latin America and Africa have been tested to see if they have what it takes to become a top player of the future. With support from Nike and Unicef, and with the involvement of coaches from Barcelona, the top players from each region travel to Doha in Qatar and are hosted at Aspire Academy, where they receive top-level training during their sports scholarship. For the first time, Aspire will this year bring their search to Cambodia and will have five centers of excellence across the country as they aim to identify the best footballing talent at U-14 level. The best prospects from the five centers will go into a final selection pool and only the very best will be chosen to move onto the final selection stage, to be held in a regional center in Vietnam. This is a never-before opportunity for the cream of Cambodian youth football to rise to the top. It promises to be a memorable year for some.