The happy champions are – Ghana and Sweden!

“Wooow!” The impressed cry comes from the busload of young football players taking part in the United for Peace cup as they gets to the top of the winding road of the mountain in Oslo. The reason for the outburst is the sight of the world famous ski jump arena Holmenkollen, which has recently been completely rebuilt. The magnificent structure, completely made out of steel, is also Norway’s most famous tourist attraction.  

The children tries to imagine what it would be like to stand at the very top with a pair of skis on and jumping more than 140 meters. But the whole idea, they agree, seems completely unfathomable. With glorious views over Oslo and the sea Oslofjorden in Norway on the way down in the bus the kids finally arrive at the Nobel Peace Centre. It’s time for the peace walk, a walk to manifest MTG United for Peace’s devotion to its cause and to celebrate the newly announced Peace Prize winners.  

“I’m really proud that three African women won the price”, says Afi Dzakpasu, volunteer from Viasat Ghana. “The work they’ve done is fantastic and even though their names might be new to a lot of Europeans, for us they are well known. Especially Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president in Africa.”

When the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjørn Jagland, arrives to give a speech at the Nobel Peace Centre he gets greeted with a great big cheer from all the teams who immediately stop their spontaneous dance performances.     

After lunch it’s time for the teams to show their true colours as the football finals take place at the LSK hall at Lillestrøm. The girls’ final between Sweden and the UK is very exciting and even. The two teams has quite a few chances as there are plenty of shots on goal, but the post gets in the way. The only goal, a glorious shot from the middle, is scored by a very happy Melissa Kalan from Sweden:

“I thought we played really well and I felt we had a good grip of the match but it was a bit sweaty at the end, the way it always tends to get when you’re in the lead by one goal.”

What’s been the greatest thing that’s happened to you during this tournament?

“I’ve really enjoyed making so many new friends, mainly from the other Scandinavian teams since we’ve shared the bus with them. It’s has been great fun to participate in this tournament and now we’re just going to have fun and celebrate”, says Melissa Kalan.

The mixed game turns into a great fight in which every single kid in each team does the best they can to bring their newly composed team to victory. The boys’ final ends in 4-0 and is, like last year, a triumph for the team from Ghana. The boys, whose courteous ways, smiles and extreme talent has won them a place deep within everyone’s hearts at the MTG United for Peace cup, are well worth to be the champions. The Slovenian team doesn’t seem terribly disappointed about their loss and together the teams walk off to celebrate. 

Tomas Lundman

And there is a lot to do whilst celebrating, the kids’ teams from the twelve countries all watch football juggling world champion Tomas Lundman trying hard to beat his own world record of juggling with his feet whilst lying down. And to the loud countdown and cheer from the children he manages to break it by one second!  

“It was difficult, by four minutes my legs started to shake a lot and by five it was really rather bad, but I still managed to do it!” says a very sweaty and noticeably exhausted Tomas Lundman. Tomas has been juggling the ball since the age of ten. He’s now 46. 

 “Last time I broke the record was here at Lillestrøm as well, last year. That’s why it feels extra special to repeat the performance!”

And the shows carry on with famous illusionist Alexx Alexxander. He makes the children scream with excitement as he put his assistant in a box which he runs swords through. But nothing is what it seems as the assistan manages to get out of the box, completely unharmed. The audience are mighty impressed. A girl from the Norwegian team volunteers to lie down on a plank in between two chairs and becomes floating on thin air when the magician takes the chairs away.

Alexx Alexxander

The football fun ends with a show by the glam rocker Åge Sten Nilsen who gets all the kids to sing along to a parade of Queen songs. Exciting celebrity football games involving a lot of famous footballers from prominent teams like Rosenborg, Lillestrøm and Manchester United amongst others follow. Read more about the celebrity football games.

The evening ends with a beautiful performance from the three Norwegian tenors in the group Eclipse. The newly found friends exchange phone numbers and addresses and give one another one last hug before its time to leave. And with that MTG United for Peace cup 2011 is over - but all the fun memories are here to stay!