With an eye on meeting Neymar at Barcelona’s famous Camp Nou as many as 283 teams applied for Neymar Jr’s Five Qatar qualifier.
Running from April 22 to May 13, teams showed their football skills in a tournament, which is the world’s first and only Neymar Jr signature football tournament, and where 5 played against 5 in a unique last man standing modus.
Skyber team was crowned as Neymar Jr’s Five Qatar’s champion after an intense national final that was held last Friday, May 13, at Qanat Quartier, Lido Veneziat at The Pearl.
The winners, who won the final match against Favor FC, will represent Qatar at the world final in Brazil in July this year when they will compete against the winning teams from 43 countries for the ultimate prize.
The fast-paced game is open for participants between 16 years and 25 years of age where two teams of five players each, play 10-minute games with no goalkeepers. When one team scores a goal, a player on the opposing team is eliminated until the whole team is completely out or 10 minutes are up.
Commenting on their great win in the national final, Skyber captain Abdullah al-Yafii’ said, “Many thanks to Red Bull who gave us the chance to participate in this unique football competition. We are ready to show the world how well we play football in Qatar, and we’ll do our best to snatch the world title of Neymar Jr’s Five tournament, and bring the first championship cup to Qatar.”
Red Bull also launched a commentator competition during the qualifiers to select the best commentator for the national final, and Jaber al-Marri was the pick and sparked the adrenaline levels of players and spectators with his skills.
The grand prize for the crowned world champion team in Brazil is meeting Neymar Jr in Barcelona, Spain, and be his guest at the famous Camp Nou for a Barcelona match.
“A tip that I would give to everybody is to enjoy themselves playing in this tournament. Everybody wants to win, wants to be the champion, but it’s only one team that will win it. The team should enjoy that unique moment of playing or even watching those games, and believe in their dream. I believe that with a football and a goal, or even with a football and two pairs of flip-flops you can be very happy,” Neymar Jr said in a statement.
Qatar qualifier was organised in collaboration with Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr, The Pearl, Vodafone Qatar, United Development Co., Shop and Ship, and Sun and Sand Sports.