Annual Mundialito Tournament Builds Bonds Beyond Football

Goals were scored and trophies were lifted, but the biggest victories at Berger Field cannot be measured on a scoreboard. For almost two decades, the Anthony Mahler Mundialito Tournament has brought children from across the Belize District together to compete, build friendships and dream about the future. As News Five’s Shane Williams reports, the tournament is not simply developing footballers. It is helping to shape young lives. This story is sponsored by the National Sports Council of Belize.

 

Shane Williams Reporting

The whistle blows, the ball begins to roll and another generation of Belizean children creates memories that may last a lifetime. Some came to score goals. Others wanted to lift a trophy. But for many of these young players, Mundialito offered something even more meaningful: a place to belong. What began roughly seventeen years ago as a summer football camp has grown into one of Belize City’s longest-running youth sporting traditions. Along the way, it has also helped develop players who have gone on to represent Belize internationally.

 

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Sports
“When it started, we started just as a summer camp, and then this has grown. Councilor Cattouse just said that seven out of the national team in Azerbaijan or wherever they are right now came out of this program. And so it shows that we’re building. Now we’ve introduced under ten and also we’ve gotten more into women’s football.”

 

But Mundialito’s impact reaches far beyond the game. When children from different neighborhoods meet on the same field, they learn more than how to pass a ball or defend a goal. They learn teamwork, discipline and how to see one another as teammates instead of rivals.

 

Denvor Skeet, Coach, Ebony Lake
“Main reason I mi organize the team da because like, inna the area they lee feud between the adults and they, but all the kids they de round and they noh fi de inna they feud de. Soh if they know each other, they wa know noh fi fight with each other. They wah have to explain themselves to me, being pan my team.”

 

Ebony Lake walked away victorious under Coach Denvor Skeet, but across the field, Hattieville United learned an equally important lesson: how to accept defeat with grace and keep moving forward.

 

Haddan Garbutt, Coach, Hattieville United

“This da how the game play. There has to be a winner, there has to be a loser. We give wi all. We noh wah complain bout the three-week delay. We noh wah complain bout none ah that. The ball roll inna fi them favour today. We still goh home with some type of hardware for the season that we noh left without nothing, you understand.”

 

The tournament is also creating friendships that extend beyond community boundaries. KP Strikers brought players from different parts of Belize Rural together, proving that former opponents can wear the same jersey and pursue the same goal.

 

Sharrette Brackett, Coach, KP Strikers
“I believe what made it special for us this season was because we have been always competing against Ladyville. They always give us a tough game. We usually win in the end, and so we decide, you know what, let us join the two teams and make one U-fifteen team to represent through here. And so workout is kinda hard because they are from different places, but we just got to remind them that the game starts here.”

 

Then there is the pride that comes from finally achieving something after years of trying. Reality Youths, representing the Hostel Field area, entered the final against an undefeated Berger United that had dominated the competition. Reality Youths endured the pressure, found the game’s only goal and captured a long-awaited championship.

 

Richard Nunez, Coach, Reality Youths
“It mean a whole lot cause some of them da from they bout six, seven the play with we. So they finally get a championship now. This big, big, big bredda for real! This big. It’s overdue. Yo feel me? Nough respect still, yo know!”

 

Shane Williams:

“Weh yo want say? Yo da champion!”

 

Player, Reality Youths:

“Yes sir! We da champions!”

 

Richard Nunez:

“Done say it. Number one. Number one! Number one! Da bout time bredda, for real. This feel good G, word. This da celebration.”

 

That celebration captures why tournaments like Mundialito matter. The child chasing a ball around Berger Field today could one day wear the Belize jersey. But even if that dream never materializes, something valuable is already happening. Children are outside, staying active, building confidence and learning the discipline it takes to be part of a team.

 

Anthony Mahler
“Sometimes when I come out to these games, they are, they’re the happiest days ’cause, because I see the talent that we have. I see the young children of the day being wholesome, being competitive, being teammates and just putting their all out on the field.This is a beautiful thing, no? We should replicate this all across the country.”

 

Mundialito gives children a field on which they can compete, but its real value lies in what they carry away from it: friendships, confidence, discipline and the belief that they can become something greater.

 

Kaylee Leslie, Player, KP Strikers
“I can show the smaller ones that they can do anything they want.”

 

Shane Williams for News Five.

 

 

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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