Gothia Cup – The World Youth Cup

Gothia Cup is the world’s largest and most international youth football tournament. Each year, around 1700 teams from 80 nations take part and they play 4500 games on 110 fields.

It’s the teams, and participants from around the world that make the tournament unique. A meeting place for the world’s youth, irrespective of religion, skin color or nationality, with football as the common denominator. Gothia Cup was first held in 1975. Through the years, almost a million players from a total of 146 countries have participated in the tournament.

Referee Abroad is one of the few referee organizations outside of Sweden who get the privilege to participate in the world’s most famous tournament. The Gothia Cup is one of our starter tournaments, ideal for young up-and-coming referees who want to improve their refereeing working with more experienced colleagues.

The arrival and departure dates: 16/07/2023 – 22/07/2023

Al referees will be offered free basic accommodation, food and local transport during the tournament week. Referees are responsible for their own travel expenses to/from Sweden.

Referees must be 16 or over in order to be considered for this tournament.

Referees for the Gothia Cup will be accommodated free of charge in a local school. Mattresses and bedding will be offered to all participating referees, who will share a classroom. Feel free to bring pillows, or sleeping bags for additional comfort.

Referees are also offered the possibility to upgrade to local hotels, in single rooms, for a cost of around 650 SEK per night.

WELCOME TO GOTHENBURG!

Gothenburg is the largest non-capital in the Nordics. It is situated on Sweden’s west coast at the outlet of the Göta river. With over 40,000 students Gothenburg University is the largest in Scandinavia. Gothenburg has a reputation of being a friendly place, even more welcoming than the Swedish capital.

With a compact city centre most sights are easily reached by foot, and it’s a nice way to get around. Popular walks around the city includes the nature reserve around the lake Delsjön, the park Slottskogen, the botanical garden, on any of the islands in the southern archipelago, or in the neighborhood Haga.

You can also visit Liseberg, the biggest amusement park in all of Scandinavia, with lots of different rides for all ages.

Landvetter Airport (IATA: GOT) is Gothenburg’s main airport, located 25 km east of the city. About 30 airlines fly to Landvetter, including almost all major European airlines and a few non-European ones. Low-cost carriers Ryanair and Wizzair have also recently moved to GOT after the city’s other airport (GSE) was closed. A bus service into the city which runs every 15-20 minutes, costs 95 SEK one way (185 SEK return) if bought online (otherwise 10 SEK extra), and the journey takes 30 minutes.

Another option is to reach Goteborg via the frequent train service. Centralstationen is the main rail station in Gothenburg. From Copenhagen, there are hourly Öresundståg trains which take 3 hours 50 minutes and cost 447 SEK (267 SEK for people below 20); the train also stops at Copenhagen Airport. You can often save half an hour by changing at Malmö from the Öresundståg to the SJ high-speed train to Göteborg; however, the high-speed train needs to be booked in advance (which can be done together with the Öresundståg) and only run every 2-3 hours so check out this site first in advance. High-speed trains connect with Stockholm in about three hours. Finally, NSB trains run from Oslo in Norway to Göteborg in 3 hours 40 minutes.