Football

Life University win National University Sports Festival 2024. They will bring a Korean football model style to compete for title of the 2025 International Student Football Tournament in HCM City. Photo courtesy of Life University

HCM CITY — Cambodian champions Life University Football Club, of Preah Sihanouk Province, are looking to be a big challenger at the first International Student Football Tournament in HCM City later this month.

They are the only participating team produced following a South Korean model, which combines school and professional level football.

Vice President of Life University Pho Sitha said his team his team would arrive in Việt Nam with 30 players and officials.

Students come from different cities and provinces, but the majority of them are majoring in sports management and football coaching.

Under the influence of founder David Koo from South Korea, the University club are following a model which maintains two football teams at the same time. A student team which practices and trains under a local coaching team which then 'feed' into the professional team Life Sihanoukville, which are playing in the Cambodian Premier League.

According to Pho Sitha, over the past year, about 20 student players have been promoted to the Life Sihanoukville team, the first in the province to compete in this year's national league.

Coming to Việt Nam's tournament, known as the THACO Cup, Life University, reigning champion of the biennial National University Sports Festival, will be playing under German head coach Jorg Steinebrunner and assistant Kong Vechaka. The tournament will also be an opportunity for the coaching board to scout players for the elite squad.

With such a modern foundation and developed model, Life University promise to be a formidable opponent in this year's tournament.

Vice President Pho Sitha said: "The international student tournament is one of the biggest events and challenges for the Life University team and also one of the best experiences for the players.

"In addition, it is also one of the professional models for us to follow. We sincerely thank the organising committee for the hospitality and excellent preparation."

At the championship, Life University will play teams from Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and two teams, representing the hosts, from March 22-30 at the HCM City's Tôn Đức Thắng University Stadium.

Life University was established by South Korean missionary - Master David Koo in Sihanoukville Province - who arrived in the country in December 1997 and established the Life Computer School in March 1998.

In order to provide quality education to the local people, Life Kindergarten was launched in 2000 after which Koo bought 9ha of land and developed a secondary and high school education system with about 1,250 students. Life University was established in 2006, recognised by the Ministry of Higher Education, Youth and Sports in June 2007.

Life University has 16 undergraduate majors including sporting degrees, Civil Engineering, Mathematics, English, Korean, Chinese and Theology, Management. VNS