Wikipedia

SuperCupNI

(Redirected from Northern Ireland Milk Cup)
"Milk Cup" redirects here. For other uses, see Milk cup (disambiguation).

SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of Northern Ireland, with matches taking place in the towns of Portrush, Portstewart, Castlerock, Limavady, Coleraine, Ballymoney, Ballymena and Broughshane. Mitre are the Official Ball Sponsor of the SuperCup with a specially designed Pro Max ball being used.[citation needed]

SuperCupNI
SuperCupNI Logo
Founded1995 (Elite)
1983 (Premier)
1985 (Junior)
RegionNorthern Ireland
Number of teams6 (Elite)
24 (Premier)
24 (Junior)
Television broadcastersBBC Northern Ireland
Websitesupercupni.com

History

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Logo used when the tournament was known as the Dale Farm Milk Cup

The Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament began in 1983 with sixteen teams participating at an Under 16 (Premier) level. Motherwell from Scotland were the first winners. It was founded by Jim Weir, Victor Leonard, George Logan and Bertie Peacock, one of the most famous football players from the region.[citation needed]

The competition was extended in 1985 when an extra age group, the Under 14 (Junior) section was introduced and again the first champions were from Scotland, as Rangers won the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament at that age level. The competition at both levels has grown in size and stature over the years, with teams increasingly travelling from all continents to compete. The Under 19 (Elite) section was introduced in 1995 with the Welsh finishing the tournament as winners. Traditionally, the finals are played at the Coleraine Showgrounds on the Friday evening.[citation needed]

 
Milk Cup Sub-16 2007.

Internationally capped footballers have taken part in the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament, such as Charlie Davies, Jonathan Spector, Paul Scholes, and Wayne Rooney have all competed at some level.[citation needed] In the 2002 FIFA World Cup there were 30 Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament veterans playing.[citation needed]

To celebrate the competition's silver jubilee, a friendly match took place between Northern Ireland and four-time junior section winners Everton at the Coleraine Showgrounds on 14 July 2007. Everton won the tie 2–0.[citation needed]

One of the key parts to the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament is the inclusion of six representative teams from each county of Northern Ireland – Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. This system allows young players from across the province to compete against some of the best in the world at their age group.

In October 2013, the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament organising committee and lead sponsors Dairy Council released a joint statement stating that the long-term sponsors Dairy Council would be withdrawing sponsorship.[1]

In February 2014, the organisers announced that competition would be sponsored by Belfast-based company Dale Farm and that the competition would be known as the Dale Farm Milk Cup for sponsorship reasons.[2] From 2016 it has been known as the Super Cup NI.[3]

Winners

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Year Elite (U-19) Premier (U-16) Junior (U-14)
Winner Runner-up Winner Runner-up Winner Runner-up
1983 Founded in 1995   Motherwell   Coleraine Founded in 1985
1984   Rangers   Motherwell
1985   Newcastle United   Coleraine   Rangers   Craigavon
1986   Dundee United   Newcastle United   Craigavon United   Crewe Alexandra
1987   Crewe Alexandra   Liverpool   Dundee United   Crewe Alexandra
1988   Liverpool   Motherwell   Home Farm   Dundee United
1989   Newcastle United   Manchester United   Dungannon Swifts   Dublin & District Schoolboys
1990   Tottenham Hotspur   Crewe Alexandra   Crewe Alexandra   Hibernian
1991   Manchester United   Heart of Midlothian   Norwich City   Dundee United
1992   Rangers   Nottingham Forest   Norwich City   Heart of Midlothian
1993   Cherry Orchard   Rangers   Slovakia   Heart of Midlothian
1994   Hearts   Russia   Middlesbrough   Manchester United
1995   Wales   Russia   Feyenoord   Everton   Norwich City
1996   Turkey   Tottenham Hotspur   Blackburn Rovers   West Ham United   Motherwell
1997   Northern Ireland   Middlesbrough   Manchester United   West Ham United   Middlesbrough
1998   Turkey   Chile   West Ham United   Crewe Alexandra   West Ham United
1999   Vitória   Crewe Alexandra   Manchester United   Manchester City   Everton
2000   Chile   Turkey   Manchester City   Charlton Athletic   Manchester City
2001   Mexico   Scotland   Paraguay   Manchester United   Norwich City   Heart of Midlothian
2002   Paraguay   Denmark   Leeds United   Panathinaikos   Everton   Botafogo
2003   Paraguay   Brazil   Manchester United   Preston North End   Racing Club   Heart of Midlothian
2004   Turkey   Brazil   Heart of Midlothian   Belvedere   Maccabi Haifa   Everton
2005   USA   Northern Ireland   Barcelona   Chelsea   Lyngby   CSKA Moscow
2006   Paraguay   USA   Spartak Moscow   Rapid Vienna   Swindon Town   Crumlin United
2007   Israel   Northern Ireland   Fluminense   Manchester United   Guadalajara   St. Kevin's Boys FC
2008   Northern Ireland   Chile   Manchester United   South Coast Bayern   Everton   Wolverhampton Wanderers
2009   Northern Ireland   Denmark   Manchester United   Sheffield United   Everton   Watford
2010   USA   Northern Ireland   Étoile Lusitana   Bolton Wanderers   Chelsea   Cruz Azul
2011   Denmark   Northern Ireland   Aspire   Manchester United   Everton   Cruz Azul
2012   Mexico   Denmark   Desportivo Brasil   Newcastle United   Brentford   Everton
2013   Mexico   Northern Ireland   Manchester United   County Tyrone   Everton   County Antrim
2014   Northern Ireland   Canada   Manchester United   Vendée   Corinthians   County Antrim
2015 not held   County Antrim   Club América   Right to Dream   Southampton
2016   Everton   Celtic   O'Higgins   Hibernian   Right to Dream   County Londonderry
2017   Manchester United   Northern Ireland   Right to Dream   Club América   County Antrim   GPS Bayern
2018 not held   B Italia   County Down   County Antrim   Manchester United
2019 not held   Valencia   Newcastle United   Rangers FC   Charlton Athletic

The competition wasn't played in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Manchester United's under-16s played 3 challenge matches against Coleraine, Ballymena United and Linfield.

Year Premier Junior Youth (U-14) Minor (U-13)
Winner Runner-up Winner Runner-up Winner Runner-up Winner Runner-up
2022   Ipswich Town   County Antrim   Manchester United   Rangers FC   Charlton Athletic   Glenavon   Surf Select   Glentoran
2023 County Londonderry Tigres UANL West Ham United County Antrim not held Glasgow Celtic Dungannon United Youth

Notable players

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Media coverage

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Since 2005 the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament has been broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland, taking over from UTV. This has led to much more media coverage as matches from Finals Night are broadcast on BBC Two Northern Ireland. Usually these are from the Premier and Elite section featuring highlights of the junior game which happens earlier in the afternoon. Some Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament matches are broadcast on BBC Two NI, made available to the rest of the UK via BBCi and the BBC Sport website and some other Milk Cup matches are broadcast online. The coverage is usually hosted by Stephen Watson, with commentary by BBC commentators such as Jackie Fullerton, Michael McNamee, Paul Gilmour, Joel Taggart, Grant Cameron and punditry by John O'Neill, Gerry Armstrong and Oran Kearney.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Milk Cup Chairman: Dairy Council backing was 'remarkable'". NI Milk Cup. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Dale Farm new sponsor for Milk Cup". Coleraine Times. Johnston Publishing. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Milk Cup football tournament in name change to Super Cup NI". BBC Sport. 20 October 2015.
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