After several months of planning and scheduling, the 2012 Viking Cup has been finalized. Trinidad Tobago National Football Team, Philippines National Football Team, La Vikings and the California Cosmos will compete in the inaugural tournament.
The LA Viking Cup 2012 is an invitational tournament for women’s National Teams worldwide. The Cup will be held at Titan Stadium, in Fullerton, California from November 23rd through December 1st, fielding some of the best female players in the world.
Robert P. Kleinberger, president of the LA Viking Club, made the official announcement this morning
“We are thrilled to finalize the tournament participants. With this year’s International competition, including Olympic qualifying and the 2012 Olympics, it was difficult to get the early commitment of participating nations.
After the Games, there were many countries facing changes in their coaching and structure, therefore limiting additional participation. Finally, the on-going world economy was an obstacle for many other countries to get funding for their participation,” said Kleinberger.
“With all those factors in mind and understanding that we have to start at some point, we have continued our efforts to present a well-run and competitive tournament, thus setting the stage for future annual tournaments, while maintaining our goal of promoting the highest level of women's soccer in Southern California while maintaining a fan friendly and entertaining environment,” he added.
“With all this factors in mind, we now welcome the participation of Trinidad and Tobago Women’s National Team, the so called 'Soca Princesses'. They are one of the top women's national football teams in the Caribbean region.
They are currently coached by Even Pellerud who is also the coach of the under 17 and under 20 teams. Their goal is to obtain experience toward future competition.”
“We also welcome the Philippines Women’s National Football Team. These are the “Malditas” and will represent the Asian Football Federation. For Philippines soccer, there is much more that just a tournament. Under coach Ernie Nierras, Philippines is gearing up to start a women’s Super league and this tournament will give Nierras a solid look of the quality of soccer in the States.”
“International Soccer and Concacaf area soccer will be represented by two California Teams: La Vikings and California Cosmos. Both of these teams are special teams formed to compete at top-notch levels.
The difference is that while the LA Vikings are fielding the best available international players, the Cosmos have a base of top Amateur players that are looking into a soccer career and want to test their skills against world-class competition. This is an opportunity seldom seen by these players,” Kleinberger concluded.
In addition to single round competition with Championship and Third Place games, all participating teams will have the opportunity to play Friendly games starting on November 17, 2012.