It’s all about to kick off in Shepparton and surrounds, with the biggest football tournament in the region’s history coming to town.
Australian Football Skool’s Shepparton Cup is back for 2024, drawing 312 teams and 3490 players from out of state and overseas to the Goulburn Valley for a revolutionary round ball spectacle.
The event — held from October 25-27 — is the largest edition of the Shepparton Cup since its 2007 launch and will be held at Shepparton Sports Precinct and Mooroopna Recreation Reserve.
After the Shepparton Cup returned last year following a four-year hiatus, AFS director Rolando Navas was proud to announce the local football fiesta is touching a whole new frontier this weekend.
“It’s going to be the biggest one ever, so we’re really excited about that,” Navas said.
“The biggest we ever had before was 287 (teams) and this time around it’s 312, which is almost another hundred more than last year.
“The good thing about Shepparton in general is the vast capacity to offer great fields.
“We’re adding more pitches to Mooroopna and there’s still room to grow it a little bit more. It’s just great to be able to have those facilities at our disposal.”
Ranging from under-8 to under-17, teams will touch down from as far as New Zealand, Queensland, Sydney and Tasmania as well as regional and metro areas of NSW and Victoria.
Play begins on Friday night with an appetiser of 16 games before the main courses on Saturday and Sunday.
Across the three days 775 matches will be contested with some of Australia’s foremost junior talents approaching the cup as unadulterated carbon, playing in the pressure cooker of competition and emerging as diamonds.
Take last year’s event as an example.
New Zealand-based RH3 Academy boasted a youngster, Luke Brooke-Smith, who went on to sign a professional deal for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League 10 months later.
He joined the likes of Shepparton’s Alou and Garang Kuol and James Nieuwehuizen as past tournament winners to springboard onto the elite stage, while Socceroos such as Ajdin Hrustic and Nishan Vellupillay have also featured.
“The thing too is, whilst it’s a great event, the football on it — especially in the older age groups — we do get some really quality players,” Navas said.
“We’ve got a really good team in the girls as well, we’ve got some of the promising emerging Matildas players that are coming, so it’ll be good to see how they go in their tournament.
“There’s going to be a lot of talent around to come and watch, some of the best young talent going around.”
The 2024 AFS Shepparton Cup is going big off the field, too.
Live entertainment, an interactive fun zone, food trucks and an appearance from members of the football podcast Suited and Booted are just some of the extras for spectators to enjoy.
Navas also noted the 2024 AFS Shepparton Cup was trialling remote online food orders to avoid queues.
The only way seems to be up for the event, but Navas assured the organisation was set on finding a happy medium to provide players and onlookers with the best possible event.
“We could probably fit more teams in, but it’s just ensuring that everyone has a positive experience,” he said.
“Whilst we want to grow it, we don’t want to make it a bad experience as in you have to drive a lot, people are already staying quite (far) out.
“We want to find the sweet spot to ensure we don’t just take teams for the sake of taking them.
“I think we’re nearly there, we’ll just add more things and make it a better event with the group that we have.”