Alianza de Futbol Hispano Kicks Off Sixth Season

Alianza de Futbol Hispano Kicks Off Sixth Season

Verizon Wireless Copa Alianza, El Sueno de Tu Vida, and Copita Alianza headline slate of national Alianza events for 2009

SAN FRANCISCO, March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Alianza de Futbol Hispano, the nation's leading organization dedicated to the development and support of amateur Hispanic soccer, today officially announced the 2009 calendar for its national Hispanic soccer properties, including the prestigious Verizon Wireless Copa Alianza 2009 adult tournament, the highly successful El Sueno de Tu Vida national scouting program, and the newly created Copita Alianza youth tournament.

"Alianza continues to make amazing strides year after year in its reach and scope," said Brad Rothenberg, Co-Founder and President of Alianza. "Our longevity, growth, and continued success are true indicators of our unique ability to help our partners reach out to, and connect with, the exploding Hispanic soccer community and their families."

The Verizon Wireless Copa Alianza is the largest and most prestigious national Hispanic amateur soccer tournament in the nation. Entering its sixth year, the tournament has continuously provided the best adult Hispanic teams and players in the country an unparalleled opportunity to showcase their talents and compete at an extremely high level. The 2009 tournament season kicks-off on April 11th in Phoenix, AZ, and continues through October in ten cities nationwide (see schedule below). At the conclusion of each local Verizon Wireless Copa Alianza tournament, the Copa Alianza city champion will compete against a professional Mexican Primera Division A team (reserve club) or a reserve MLS club in front of their hometown fans. Participating Mexican clubs in 2009 will include Chivas, Club America, and Atlas, among others.

Returning for its second year is the El Sueno de Tu Vida presented by Sears, a national scouting program, the only national showcase tour for Mexican League and MLS teams to scout soccer talent specifically in the U.S. Hispanic community. The program is part of a partnership among Alianza, Fox Sports en Espanol, and Sears.

El Sueno de Tu Vida had an extremely successful debut in 2008: 18 players from around the country received formal tryout invitations from MLS and Mexican professional teams, with four of the players eventually going on to sign professional contracts. Additionally, three players received college scholarships after being scouted during the El Sueno tryouts. One of the players discovered by El Sueno scouts, Victor Sanchez of Chicago, is now a member of the U-17 Mexican National team player pool after signing a contract with Mexican club Santos Laguna in November 2008.

In 2009, Alianza's team of scouts will be comprised of some of Mexico's most accomplished and influential talent evaluators, including Jose Enrique Vaca, Jose Luis Ortega, Daniel Ahmed, Memo Vazquez Jr. and Jose Manuel Abundis. As part of the scouting process in each city, 18 players will be chosen to compete on the El Sueno de Tu Vida Local All-Star Team, which will play a game against a visiting Mexican Primera Division A or MLS reserve team during the third weekend of the events. Four players from each city's All Star team will be further selected to a national player pool of 40 finalists for the National All-Star Team, which will play against America "Primera A" in Los Angeles in a nationally televised game by Fox Sports en Espanol on October 18th.

In order to expand the scope and reach of its professional and college scouting efforts in 2009, Alianza has added a youth division to the Verizon Wireless Copa Alianza, and to the El Sueno de Tu Vida scouting program. The Copita Alianza tournament, which will be played concurrently with the adult tournament, together with the youth scouting program, will offer players 16 years of age and younger an opportunity to be scouted by both professional teams and college coaches, while providing Alianza's professional talent evaluators access to an age group young enough to be groomed and trained to become future impact players at the professional level in Mexico or in the United States.

"One of the primary reasons Alianza continues to grow and improve is because we fine tune our product according to the feedback we get from our players, corporate partners, and professional support staff," said Brad Rothenberg. "The soccer community, including our own professional team of scouts, and important members of the US soccer establishment, suggested that we expand the scouting program's reach to include younger players, in order to better service the needs of professional clubs and we are delivering. With the addition of the youth component, Alianza promises even greater reach with El Sueno de Tu Vida presented by Sears, and even more life-changing success stories to report in 2009."

Alianza de Futbol Hispano's 2009 lineup of national sponsors includes: Verizon Wireless, Fox Sports en Espanol, and Sears.

                            COPA ALIANZA 2009 CALENDAR    CITY         DATE              CITY               DATE    Phoenix, AZ  April 11-26       Chicago, IL        June 27 - July 12   Houston, TX  April 25 - May 10 Denver, CO         July 18- August 2   Dallas, TX   May 9 - 24        Los Angeles, CA    August 8 - August 23   Atlanta, GA  May 23- June 7    San Francisco, CA  August 22 - September 6   New York, NY June 6 - June 21  El Paso, TX        September 19 -October 4    About Alianza de Futbol Hispano  

Founded in 2004, Alianza de Futbol Hispano is the leading, national organization dedicated to the support and development of amateur, Hispanic soccer in the United States. Through its sponsored local, regional and national tournaments, the organization brings together and showcases the talents of Hispanic amateur players nationwide. Alianza and its corporate partners reach out to a growing community of hundreds of thousands of Hispanic soccer players and their families. The 2008 edition of the Alianza tournament had a total attendance of more than 115,000. For more information, visit www.alianzadefutbol.com or call 1-866-538-4955.

   Contact:   Joaquin Escoto   (415)-436-9040, ext. 112 jescoto@brcgrp.com   Andy Swift   (817)-946-4173 andy@alianzadefutbol.com  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Alianza de Futbol Hispano

CONTACT: Joaquin Escoto, +1-415-436-9040, ext. 112, jescoto@brcgrp.com;
or Andy Swift, +1-817-946-4173, andy@alianzadefutbol.com, both for Alianza de
Futbol Hispano

Web Site: http://www.alianzadefutbol.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment