After a two-year hiatus due to Covid, the Eritrean Soccer Federation of North America (ESFNA) is set to kick off its annual Eritrean Soccer Tournament. It will be held on Saturday, June 26 in St, San Leandro, California in the Bay area.
The soccer tournament is comprised of teams from all parts of the U.S. Teams are gearing up from Seattle in the northwest to Atlanta in the south to Chicago in the midwest to many more. There are a total of 20 teams that will be competing in the tournament.
While the adults compete at a high level, “our main concern is the kids,” Desta said, president of ESFNA since 2015.
In addition to the 20 adult teams, there will be over a dozen teams for the youth. And this is something Desta’s 8-year-old son, Noel, will be looking forward to when he puts on his cleats and takes to the soccer field.
Due to Covid, the last tournament was held back in 2019 in Minnesota, where a brand new team, Mereb, from Des Moines, Iowa shocked everyone to take the crown. Due to some complications, the championship game against Seattle was actually forfeited. So Mereb went on to play Minnesota’s Denden, and they beat them in their hometown.
Efram tells The Horn Magazine that Atlanta is once again gearing up to try to take this year’s crown. They fell short on multiple occasions in the semi-finals. When Atlanta hosted the tournament in 2015, they lost in the semi-finals to Minnesota – and again lost in the semi-finals in 2016 in San Diego. Although Efrem won’t be playing this year, as many of the previous players have retired, he’s still showing his support to the younger players representing Atlanta.
“Competition is intense – you have to train for months before the tournament,” Efrem said. “On top of that, you have thousands in the stand. And you have to play till the end.”
But in addition to the competitiveness of the event, Efrem enjoys meeting with old friends, traveling, and enjoying the week away from work. And that’s what Desta emphasized – an event for families and especially the youth to unite.
Desta says that the event is apolitical and has no religious affiliations. It’s purely an event of camaraderie and unity through sports and other cultural events. And he hopes that the youth can benefit the most from wholesome activities that offer cultural awareness.
“We want the kids to know their background, their heritage,” Desta says. “It’s important for them to know this.”
And a good start to acquaint the youth with cultural icons is the legend himself, Alemseghed Efrem. Alemseghed was one of Eritrea’s greatest soccer players. And for this year’s tournament, he’ll be boarding a plane from Eritrea to California to join the event.
Alemseghed played for Adulis from 1986-2003. Additionally, he played for the Eritrean National Team from 1991-2001. After retiring, he was the head coach for his old team, Adulis, from 2003-2015. He then moved on to serve as the head coach of the Eritrean National Team from 2015 till now.
And his accolades don’t quite stop there. He is also the head of grassroots football development at the Eritrean National Football Federation. And he took the team to the finals at the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) where they faced Uganda in the championship game in 2019.
“We are very excited to have Alemseghed here as the guest of honor,” said Desta. “He’s a legend.”
The annual soccer tournament dates all the way back to 1986. This year marks the 35th annual event. The festival will conclude on Saturday, July 2 with an annual federation celebration.
