Liverpool’s world cup football tournament promoting pride in city’s diverse communities

Normally, we’d all be settling in about now for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

But with this year’s instalment of FIFA’s flagship event moved to the winter due to the extreme heat during the summer months in Qatar we’ve been left without our football fix.

However, there is one international tournament taking place this month - and it’s happening in Liverpool.

World In One City is a competition pitting international communities against each other on the pitch, but bringing them together off it.

The 16 nations battle across a group stage and knockout phase for the trophy.

The teams - be that Jamaica, England, Brazil, Poland, Kurdistan, Yemen or any other country - are made up of players from Liverpool who all have a genuine link with their nation, much like the official tournament rules.

And it is all run by volunteers.

Founder Imad Ali, from Toxteth, tells us he’d rather spend his money on this tournament than on a holiday.

“It’s a project that I personally have been working on for several years,” Imad says. “Getting it to fruition - this is our second year now - and it’s been amazing.

“We love this. I get so much joy from this. It’s like going on holiday with the lads.

“The lads go on holiday and spend five, six, seven grand on a holiday - spending that on a tournament and getting the joy of it... Look at the people and they’re all from different walks of life. It’s amazing.

“You’ll see the 11 best Jamaicans in the city against the 11 best Bangladeshis in the city.”

The 31-year-old of Yemeni heritage adds: “New people and new communities are getting integrated.”

The games are being played at Jericho Lane in Otterspool and you can follow the tournament and find fixture times atWorld In One City on Instagram andTwitter.

Watch the full video above for more information.