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The Sao Paulo Youth Cup began in 1969 in the city of São Paulo. At the beginning only clubs in the state of São Paulo participated, but in 1971 the competition was extended to include all of Brazil's clubs.
From 1993 to 1997 the tournament accepted international clubs such as Bayern Munich, Boca Juniors (Argentina) and some Japanese clubs, but the results weren't as expected so the organizers decided to return to the original format with only Brazilian clubs.
This competition has a historic importance, and has drawn attention not only because it is a national competition, but also because of the superstars who have been discovered there, including Neymar, Kaka and Lucas.
Neymar debuted in the tournament at the age of 15 in 2008 with the club from São Paulo, Santos FC. He replaced another famous striker, Ganso, in the quarterfinals when Santos was eliminated by Internacional FC. Nobody could imagine where this not very encouraging result would take him in his near future. Now he is one of the most important players in the world, and still has a brilliant future ahead of him.
See a vídeo of his debut, when he was named the most promising youngster in Brazilian football.
Kaka, regarding his debut at the tournament, said, “I am not old enough yet to shave, but already to score a lot of goals.”
It seems that he was foreseeing his future. His debut was in 2001 when he was only 18 years old, playing for São Paulo FC.
After this tournament Kaka has collected glorious moments and awards in his career. At the age of 22 he transferred to AC Milan for 8.5 million Euros. Silvio Berlusconi, the club owner said that this amount was "peanuts."
There he built a glorious career, playing with big names like Andrea Pirlo and David Beckham. He won many important tournaments such as the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup in 2007 and in 2002 the FIFA World Cup with the Brazilian National Team against Germany.
Kaka also has won many individual awards such as FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball, FIFA World Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year award and and UEFA Club Footballer of the Year.
The São Paulo Youth Cup has functioned as a factory for new talents, and also a doorway to a promising career for many young players. A reason behind that is although it is a Junior Cup, it is televised on the most important Brazilian TV channel and the press seriously cover this tournament.
The list of soccer stars revealed by this tournament is enormous, such as Rai, Neymar, Alves, Lucas (Paris Saint German) and keeps growing...
It is an opportunity for many young players, many of them coming out of the outskirts of Brazilian cities, who dream of a promising career and a better future. Data from this tournament does not make us doubt the importance of the players have been revealed. It has served as a showcase for football as it is seen by businessmen close to the sports industry and players' agents.
Thats one of the reasons why this tournament has drawn the attention of the football world.
This year the tournament ran from January 2 to January 25, with 112 clubs divided into 28 groups.
The biggest bets for the players discovered at this year's tournament are: Gustavo Indio from Coritiba, Pedro Guilherme from Fluminense and Pablo from Gremio Osasco Audax, all with seven goals scored, followed by "Goteira" with six.
Goteira, of Primavera Club, has already received proposals to play in larger clubs, being appointed so far as the biggest promise for his assists and skills in the championship.
Here is a video showing all his skills :
He also received the most beautiful goal of Youth Cup this year with this goal, shown in the minute 2:27
In viewing good historical results of the tournament, and in terms of reveal new players, we can all ask: are we being introduced to the newest generation of international soccer stars?
For historical purposes it is good just to keep our eyes on these guys :Gustavo Indio, Pedro Guilherme, Pablo and Goteira.
