The Northwest played host to another successful Asia FC’s annual football tournament in September.

Haji Cash & Carry’s football team achieved the double within the space a of a few weeks, firstly winning the World Cup (a replica trophy of the actual World Cup) in the Supermarket World Cup defeating teams from Tesco, Morrisons, Safeway, and Asda in the region, then going on to win the prestigious Asia FC 5-a-side 7th Annual Tournament.

The annual tournament which is in memory of a local man, Amir Qayyum was a huge success with over 250 people attending and 18 teams competing from around the region including teams from Rochdale, Bury, Oldham and Leeds. The tournament was held at The Soccer Village, Milnrow in Rochdale on state-of-the-art football pitches.

The teams known as Haji Cash & Carry of Rochdale and The Genuine Articles of Bury met in a great final which displayed some great passing by both sides making it a spectacle to enjoy and watch for the audience which included Rochdale MP Paul Rowen along with the mother and brother of Amir Qayyum.

Throughout the match the score was 0-0 and with only three minutes of extra-time being played, everyone started to look forward to a penalty shoot-out but team Haji Cash & Carry had other ideas and stepped up a gear and scored two quick goals to send the Rochdale crowd crazy and bring the trophy back to Rochdale for only the third time in the seven years of the competition.

It had been a long day for both teams having played eight games in the space of five hours, but all had enjoyed the games as well as the final being played in an excellent spirit.

Tournament organisers Sajid Maqbool and Ahsan Saeed were proud of all 18 teams participating in the tournament and were pleased with their conduct on and off the pitch saying that it was a great advert for the game.

The winners were presented with the Cup by MP Paul Rowen and Mrs Qayyum. Organisers expressed their thanks to Bob and Brett and the referees at the Soccer Village, Milnrow for their valuable support with this Memorial Tournament “They were all tremendous and volunteered their precious time in helping out during the whole day.”

A big thank you especially to The Soccer Village whose generous contribution made the tournament possible!