History
Following the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, Groupe DANONE decided to create an international football tournament for kids.
In 2000, edition of the Danone Nations Cup takes place, gathering 8 teams from 2 continents : Bulgaria, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine: Already 35000 players and 125 000 spectators worldwide . France becomes the first team to raise the DNC trophy, whilst one of the Turkish players involved in the tournament was Aydın Yılmaz, who is now playing, as a professional, for one of the best clubs in Turkey, Galatasaray. Stories like this confirm the philosophy of the event, "Believe in your dreams".
In 2001, the event considerably grows up as 24 teams, representing 24 nations from 4 continents are part of it. Reunion Islands wins the victory in 2001, while Argentina wins the 2002 edition.
In 2003, the Danone Nations Cup moved up to a higher level, 32 countries participate and Zinedine Zidane becomes the official ambassador of the competition. Between 2003 and 2006, the event is respectively won by South Africa, Spain and Reunion Islands.
In the year 2007 the Danone Nations Cup takes another step by gathering 40 countries from all over the world. Therefore, new countries join the adventure such as Saudi Arabia, Chile, Hungary, Uruguay, Namibia and Bangladesh. The world final takes place in front of 35,000 spectators and more than 250 journalists. South Africa is the winner of this edition.
In 2008, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Mauritius Islands and Qatar participate in the event. Eight years after its first victory, the team representing France makes its dream come true by winning the 9th edition in front of their ambassador and World Cup Champion Zinedine Zidane.
The World Finals of the 10th and 11th editions of the Danone Nations Cup will take place in the same country, and the same year as the FIFA Football World Cup: in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Read more about this topic: Danone Nations Cup
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