TWENTY of the best under-15 football teams around the globe are making their final preparations before travelling to Manchester next week to face the ultimate test of their skills at the World Finals of the Manchester United Premier Cup. (MUPC)

The tournament, sponsored by Nike, will be hosted by Manchester United at their Carrington Training Facility on 5-7 August. The grand finale is to be played out at Old Trafford’s “Theatre of Dreams” on Saturday 8th August at midday; following the unveiling of United’s new first team line-up in their first Open Training session of the season.

It was a clash of the Titans at Old Trafford today when Brazilian favourites Fluminense took on Mexico’s FC Atlas and became Manchester United Premier Cup World Champions for the second time.

This fixture was the eagerly anticipated Final of the Nike sponsored tournament which brings together the twenty best under-15 teams in the world.

Mixed fortunes left all to play for at the close of the first day’s matches at the Manchester United Premier Cup at Carrington today with teams from South America dictating the pace. Host team Manchester United opened with a comfortable 3-0 win over Villa 2000, but it was Brazilian Team Fluminense who firmly stamped their authority on the competition with a torrent of seven goals against Japanese contenders, Shizuoka Gakuen.

Manchester, 8th July, 2008 - South African team SuperSport United is the final team to qualify for the World Finals of the 2008 Manchester United Premier Cup after winning the South African MUPC Championships in Soweto. Young footballers from over 9,400 teams across the globe have been competing in local, national and regional qualification tournaments over the past year, proving their skills and their passion at the very highest level in an effort to win one of just twenty places at the Nike sponsored football competition for under-15’s.

Willem II is winnaar geworden van de Nike Premier Cup. In de finale versloegen de Tilburgers met 1-0 Sparta. Willem II gaat met haar C-junioren Europa in. Dit avontuur gaat beginnen in Polen.

In de ochtend was het weer erg drijgend, maar op het moment dat de eerste wedstrijd begon was het droog. Dat bleef het tot aan de laatste ronde waardoor het een mooie eerste dag voetbal is geworden. De winnaars van de diverse poules zijn bekend, net als de beste nummers 2 die doorgaan naar de zondag.