adidas send four boys to Spain

By Lee Hwee Cheng

The Red Sports Crew heard there was some other thrilling football action going on in the school holidays, so we decided to check it out.  Especially when we heard it was going to be a global event in Spain complete with the presence of big-time international football heroes and a few of our own young footballers.

It all began sometime back in March.  Football giant adidas organized a global event called "Predator vs F50".  The best young players from the grassroots around the globe would pit their skills with and against the biggest international names in the sport.  So then began the global search for the youngsters who would prove themselves worthy of the glory and challenge. And in Singapore, adidas held a local talent search where they invited footballers around the island to sign up for trials and from which the top two youngsters would form part of the entourage to Spain.

First, and foremost, why "Predator vs F50"?   Who is ‘Predator’?  What is ‘F50’?

The names ‘Predator’ and ‘F50’ refer to two distinct and popular lines of adidas football boots.  And the campaign uses the two different football boots –  the Predator® and the +F50 Tunit – to identify two unique styles of football. This, in turn, divides the world of football into two different camps: the Predator and the F50 Tunit.

The Predator embodies teamwork, determination and precision, while the F50 team favours flair, flamboyance and speed. These distinct personalities are encapsulated in their respective club motto.  Predator believes that "every team needs a hero" while F50 believes "every hero needs a team".

In adidas’ world of football, the globe’s best footballers belong to either of two different and distinct clubs – Predator F.C. and F50 Tunit Club de Fútbol. The Predator Football Club boasts of heroes like David Beckham, Michael Ballack, Kaká and Juan Román Riquelme, as well as Singapore’s young Lions Lionel Lewis and Mustafic Fahrudin.  The F50 Tunit Club de Fútbol includes in its line-up stars such as Lionel Messi, Arjen Robben, Lukas Podolski, Fred and Singapore’s Isa Halim. Both clubs have very distinct personalities, club colors and crests which personify the characteristics of the two football boots.  And in this campaign, both clubs will compete against each other to determine the world’s leading football club.

With this distinct classification of footballers in the world in mind, over a thousand footballers in Singapore signed up for the search and went through a series of trials in the hope of representing the team they wanted to belong to – and in the eventuality, representing Singapore in that grand finale in Spain.

Over a course of two months or so, the thousands were grouped into random Predator and F50 teams to play one another and the outstanding ones were handpicked to enter the next stages.  Eventually, the numbers were cut down to the top forty players in each team.  And from the top forty, Aslam Ismail Bin Yaakop, 16, the best Predator player, and Fahmi Fitri Bin Jauhari, also 16, the best player from F50, were selected for the trip to Spain.

The third player that was included in the entourage earned his spot by winning ‘The New Paper Soccer Star’ contest.  Out of 150 contestants, 10 highly-skilled readers were eventually picked from a series of trials, and put through a final round of competition in front of a panel of judges.  Among the three finalists that were selected, Muhd Ridhwan Bin Zainal, 16, was voted the winner by readers of The New Paper.

The last, but not the least, player of the team won his place through a lucky draw contest – an unexpected win when he bought his pair of F50 Tunit from the retail store.  Brandon Chong, 16, looked really familiar when the Red Sports Crew met up with the team.  With some prodding from the teenager to jog our ageing memory, we finally remembered.  Brandon plays leisure football for the love of the game, but he represents his school, Raffles Institution, in the National ‘B’ Division Water Polo tournament.  Yes, Brandon appeared in one of our earlier RedSportsTV episodes.

The Red Sports Crew caught up with the boys just a day before they flew off to Spain.  They had looked a tad shy, but we guessed they must have been overwhelmed by the thought of boarding the same plane with local football stars Lionel Lewis, Mustafic Fahrudin and Isa Halim all the way to Spain, and of coming face to face with football heroes they could only watch in action on cable television.  The very thought of these four boys sitting right in front of me being able to shake hands with Ballack was sufficient to make me feel awe-struck.

For sure, though, the boys were indeed proud and excited about being part of the entourage.  All, with the exception of Brandon, had represented their schools in the ‘B’ Division tournament.  Aslam the Predator plays centre-midfield and wears the captain band for Bedok South Secondary School, while Fahmi the F50 plays in the striker position for Regent Secondary School.  Ridhwan, the New Paper Soccer Star, plays centre-midfield as well for Hua Yi Secondary School, and he will represent the Predators. 

Laughing about his experience thus far in the ‘Predator vs F50’ campaign, Aslam recalled, "I had signed up for the trials alone.  It was really funny when they first put me in a random team because I had all primary school kids for my teammates!"

The boys might not have brought their school teams into the National games this year, but hey, the chance to compete in a global event in Spain would be enough to make this year an unforgettable one for the boys.

The Red Sports Crew will not spoil the fun and tell you what is happening in Spain right now.  We’ll leave it to the boys tell you when they come back.

Stay tuned.

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