On July 8th, MSc and PhD participants and UNESCO-IHE Staff met on the football pitch for the 9th time to participate in the annual UNESCO-IHE Football Championship.
This year five teams (EuroAmerica, Vietnam, Lions of Africa, Tax-Free Employees (PhD Team) and the Staff Team) competed for the coveted ‘Dr. Roberto Valencia Trophy’. Under the watchful eyes of the referees, Henk Lubberding and Edwin Hes, the teams battled for over 3 hours at the TU Delft SportCentre.
At the end of the evening, the Lions of Africa and the Tax-Free Employees managed to make it to the Final. After taking a 1-0 lead the Lions of Africa seemed destined to take the overall title, but in the final second the Tax-Free Employees managed to score an equalizer. What followed was a nerve-racking penalty series to decide the Champion. After the first five penalties had not decided a winner, the series continued into the sudden-death phase. After more than a dozen penalties had been taken by each of the two teams the Lions of Africa missed making the Tax-Free Employees the Champions for the first time in the history of the Tournament.
In 2011 we look forward to organizing the 10th UNSECO-IHE Football Championship. Luckily for the Staff and MSc participants, Leonardo Alfonso will have defended his PhD by then, giving the other teams hope of claiming the title.
