Meet the zujuGP YoungWarrior Scholarship winners headed to Valencia next year

Three young Singaporean footballers have won an opportunity to train in Europe next year, after being named as inaugural recipients of the zujuGP YoungWarrior Scholarship award.

The awards were presented at the conclusion of the 2022 ActiveSG Cup football finals, held in Singapore, on 10 December. AFA DC Youth Alpha, SportCares Tasek FC CFP 1 and CUFA were crowned champions in the Under-14, Under-12 and Under-10 categories respectively.

Muhammad Aryan Bin Muhammad Shukri (Team#2@BG) , Muhammad Rifque Sufi B Ridhwan (SportCares Tasek FC) and Zachary Seah Yin Jun (Yellow Submarine Football Academy) were handpicked by Valencia CF academy coaches at Jurong East Stadium.

The talented trio will travel to Spain for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – an all-expenses paid trip to attend the 2023 Valencia CF Summer Camp.

They will step on hallowed ground at the Ciudad Deportiva de Paterna, Valencia’s state-of-the-art training facilities, where countless Valencia legends such as David Silva, Juan Mata and Pablo Aimar have trained in years gone by.

Places at the Valencia CF Summer Camp are highly sought after and hard to come by, with registrations for each edition filled long before each year’s camp starts.

“It is a good opportunity for Valencia to see first-hand, in a context like the ActiveSG Cup, how players are developing in Asia,” said Ramon Mompó, technical manager of Valencia’s academy programs.

“In picking the three players, we take into account aspects that an elite player must have with us. They need to be able to set an example for others; are intelligent; be fighters; be technically proficient; and be energetic.”

The three winners were understandably elated at their good fortune.

“I’m super, super excited,” said U10 category winner Aryan.

“I can’t wait to go to a new stadium and see all the new coaches and Cavani!”

“I’m very grateful that I’m going to Valencia and I hope I will see how they play over there,” said Rifque, the top pick from the U12 category.

“I feel great because I got picked out of everyone who participated.”

“Standards of football in Spain are definitely better than those in Singapore so I’m excited to learn new things while I’m at the summer camp in Valencia,” said Zachary, the U14 winner.

“I’m looking forward to learning from other players as well as finding out more about Spanish culture.”

The zujuGP YoungWarrior Scholarship is a youth development scholarship program for young football talents in Asia.This year, zujuGP partnered up with SportSG to help support Singapore’s Unleash the Roar movement.

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