Toulon Tournament 2010: The Future Is Now…Right Now.

May 18th, 2010 | by: chris | View Comments

Damn the World Cup, it’s the best tournament of the summer, maybe the best of them all. It’s not sanctioned and the teams are far from a smattering of the world’s best, but it’s everything football is supposed to be: fun, youthful and not taken so damn seriously. It’s the Toulon tournament.

The World Cup is all sorts of wonderful and all joking aside, the best of the best, but the Toulon tournament ignites a wonderful feeling for many; a feeling which is almost unique in today’s game. A trophy does lie at the end of the rainbow, but it’s about so much more than that. Oftentimes the players, with it being the u20 team, are a peg down in quality, and that’s part of the allure – many are playing for simple joy.

Something we could all use for the next few weeks before the therapy bills get out of hand.

One of the best and worst parts of the Toulon tournament is how little exposure it gets. Take, for example, the fact that it began today and it only came across this radar because the scores nestled into some interwebs cruising. The scenario is likely different in southern France, but that doesn’t really help the rest of the world trying to get a glimpse of the next global big thing.

The basics:

- It is held in and around Toulon, France, in stadiums which often look like the naval warships for which the city is known.

- Seven under-20 teams are invited every year, with France filling out the eighth spot as a participating host.

- The teams rotate, even though some may play in back-to-back tournaments. The holdovers are defending champs Chile (in their third straight) and Qatar (plus France).

- There is a group stage made up of two groups; the top two teams then participate in a one-legged semifinal before the final.

- The halves are only 40 minutes since most players are gassed from sitting on the bench for the last 9 months.

- France have won 11 titles of 36, including a four-peat in the middle of this decade – which sounds like Raymond Domenech is doing something very wrong.

- Many, if not all, of the games are streamed on MyP2P.eu (bookmark that link – it’s exclusive to the tournament).

- It is awesome.

(That last one is actually fact as well.)

This year’s gig runs from May 18th (today) to the 27th, which the groups structured as such:

The schedule:

As you can see above, they got started without us. France, through Morgan Schneiderlin and Lynel Kitambala, set the bar high early.

For anyone who’s seen it, the tournament needs no marketing; but for the rest – it’s more than worth your time. It really is one of the best things this sport has to offer.