Styled after the World Cup, the Vancouver International Soccer Festival counts 20 men's teams and 20 co-ed teams. For the first time since the inaugural festival in 2004, there is also a women's draw.
Billed as Canada's largest multi-cultural sports festival and as the country's "most meaningful and inspiring soccer event," teams enter the tournament under the banner of a single country. The Musqueam Nation will compete, the Vancouver Street Soccer League has entered a women's team and Tuvalu, a Polynesian island nation, is also represented in the co-ed division.
Free for spectators and fans, the festival runs July 9 to 10 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily at Andy Livingston Park and includes entertainment and a beer garden. Teams play seven aside. In the first men's matches at 9:10 a.m. Saturday, Turkey meets South Africa and Saudi Arabia plays Cameroon. For more information visit oneteamunited.ca
