Thursday, November 6, 2008

NEWARK, NJ -- The Ironbound Soccer club of Newark, New Jersey announced that it will be hosting tryouts for women of Portuguese decent aged 16 or older November 29-30 at Lubetkin Field (NJIT). Players from the Newark trial will be selected to travel to Portugal for in-depth trial with the Portuguese Women’s National Team.

The trial is a renewal of a similar program held in 2004 coordinated by USL and its founder and President Francisco Marcos, a native of Portugal. The program in 2004 led to a team called ELAS (Elite Luso-American Select), which toured Portugal and played in the Portuguese FA Inter-Association Tournament and posted a record of 4-0. 

FIFA rules allow players under the age of 23 who qualify for national team eligibility in multiple federations to play with those federations at the youth level without locking them to any specific federation until they have played with one federation’s senior national team. Qualification is determined utilizing the heritage of the player, their parents and grandparents.

Hugo Ribeiro, a Benfica youth coach currently on sabbatical and working with Mass Premier Soccer, will be evaluating players at the trials in Newark. Players who are selected will join the Portuguese Women’s National Team February 16-19 of 2009.

Since the ELAS tour in 2004, several American players have joined the Portuguese Women’s National Team and enjoyed success at the international level, including former W-League players Kim and Lissette Bradao. In addition Alex Valerio of Canada has played for the U19 Portuguese National Team.

For more on ELAS:   Pre-Tour [+]     Mid-Tour [+]     Post-Tour [+]

Blog feature about Portuguese outreach to North America [+]

Portuguese Women’s National Team Tryout Information

When: November 29-30th 9am - 5 pm
Where: Lubetkin Field, NJIT - Newark NJ   (info)
Playing Surface: Fieldturf
Who: Females over age 16 that are eligible to play for the Portuguese National Team (must have at least one parent or grandparent that was born or was a citizen of Portugal)

CONTACTS

Project Director : Sebastian Ferreira
862-755-1027 or Ironboundsclub@aol.com  

Coordinator: Al Coutinho
alcoutinho@aol.com