Freestyle football

Cấn Minh Đức (left) and his coach Đỗ Kim Phúc celebrate winning Việt Nam's first world freestyle football championship for young players. — Photos of Đỗ Kim Phúc

HÀ NỘI — Cấn Minh Đức won the World Freestyle Football Association (WFFA) NextGen World Championship 2024 tournament on December 22.

The tournament featured 50 competitors from 30 countries and regions, performing online. The top 16 ones advanced to the knockout round, which was live-streamed and received points from three judges.

Đức step by step defeated Finley Strangewood of England in the last-16 round, Blazej Mlynek of Poland in the quarter-finals, and Yuki Shimoshuga of Japan in the semi-finals.

In the title medal match, he successfully defeated Joshua Meehan of Luxembourg 3-0 to bring Việt Nam its first-ever world title.

Cấn Minh Đức is honoured as WFFA) NextGen World Championship 2024 winner.

“Facing very strong opponents in the world, I used all the skills I had and was truly overwhelmed when I was named the winner," said Đức.

"I have taken part in many tournaments, suffering defeats and many injuries. Now I have achieved the first big success in my career, which will be a motivation for me to reach further goals in the future."

Đức was born in 2009 in Hà Giang Province. He has been a freestyle footballer since 2021 and is trained by the Vietnamese leading player, Đỗ Kim Phúc who won the Asian championship in 2013.

Due to the huge distance of nearly 300km between Hà Nội and Hà Giang, they had to practice online.

Prior to Đức's world title, Phúc also led his players Danh Quang and Anh Tuấn to the second place at the SuperBall 2022. — VNS