Southampton Town United Soccer Club Players Enjoy Experience of a Lifetime at Gothia Cup in Sweden | Sports

The Gothia Cup, held in Gothenburg, Sweden, was created in 1975, and each year more than 1,900 teams from 75 countries around the world participate, playing around 5,000 games in 112 different fields in the Gothenburg area. 

The tournament, which was started by two local Swedish soccer clubs, BK Haken and GAIS, as well as a local newspaper, had humble roots. But in 1981, organizers and founders set about a new vision for the tournament, with a desire to make it an international draw.

“The old, yellowing piece of paper still exists on which we wrote down our vision for the new Gothia Cup,” the tournament organizers share on their website. “It states: ‘The Gothia Cup shall be a meeting place for the young people of the world, regardless of colour, gender or religion.’ This was written in 1981 and remains the guiding principle for the organisation to this day.”

The tournament’s opening ceremony, held at Ullevi Stadium in downtown Gothenburg on July 13, was a glorious spectacle that serves as a testament to the fact that the organization achieved that vision, and then some.

The 50,000-capacity stadium was packed with players and their parents for the ceremony, which had the same level of energy and excitement as the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Teams representing countries from around the world proudly carried their national flags, marching around the stadium either in uniform or in traditional dress and garb from their countries. There was live music, dancing, fireworks and pyrotechnics, and the parade of nations.

Male and female players from South America, Africa, China, Europe, the United States and more marched around the stadium, drawing cheers from the crowd. Notable attendees included a team representing Palestine, as well as Ghana’s Right to Dream Academy team, which creates opportunities for talented players regardless of socioeconomic status. 

The tournament is well-known throughout the world, but Lindberg has a special connection and reason for taking several teams from Southampton Town United to the tournament every other year.

Lindberg — who played college soccer at Southampton College and is currently the head coach of the men’s soccer team at Seton Hall University — grew up in Malmö, Sweden, roughly three hours south of Gothenburg. While he never played in the Gothia Cup as a kid, he said that being able to take his own club to the tournament has been “incredibly meaningful.”

When designing the trip for the club, he makes sure to build in a few days in Malmö for the teams, which this year included friendly matches with a nearby Swedish club, Åkarp, and attendance at a Malmö FF professional soccer game, before the group departs for Gothenburg.

“Because the trip starts in Malmö, I get to share my hometown with our families,” he said. “Taking everyone on a tour of Malmö FF’s stadium and then attending a Malmö FF match together was one of my favorite moments. I’m a lifelong Malmö FF supporter, so seeing nearly 125 people from our club wearing Malmö jerseys in the stands was something I’ll always remember.”

This year, the club brought two teams of players born in 2013, a team with players born in 2012, and both a boys team and a girls team of players born in 2014. 

The teams primarily consisted of players who compete with Southampton Town United, but because not every player on each team can commit to making the trip, the teams often have a few guest players. This year’s girls 2014 team was an international group, with two guest players from Paris, France, who had played with the club when they lived in Quogue for a year in 2023, and three guest players from Colombia, who were invited by another Southampton Town United coach, Greg Fink, who runs a charity foundation in Colombia. 

Other teams included guest players from the Bahamas and from Stony Brook, and several players from New York City — many of whom are members of Southampton Town United — made the trip as well. 

East End towns and school districts represented in the tournament included East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Southampton, Hampton Bays, Westhampton Beach, East Quogue, Mattituck, Center Moriches and William Floyd.

Lindberg explained why the club has committed to taking teams to the tournament every other year.

“Gothia Cup has become one of the cornerstones of what we do as a club,” he said. “This wasn’t just another tournament — it was our fourth trip to Sweden, and every time it reminds us why we keep going back.

“The opportunity for our players to compete against teams from different countries and different soccer cultures is something you simply can’t recreate at home. The styles of play, the tempo, the physicality, the officiating, and even the atmosphere are all different. It challenges our players to adapt, solve problems and grow both individually and as teammates.

“Just as importantly, it’s about much more than soccer,” he continued. “Traveling together, representing our club and our country, experiencing another culture, and creating memories with teammates and families builds friendships and maturity in a way that very few youth sports experiences can.”

Gary Easlick, the club’s director of development, and another East Quogue resident, was at the tournament this year and echoed Lindberg’s sentiments. “To play against teams from other countries is incredibly valuable in any player’s development,” he said. “Playing style and tactics can vary between cultures, and for all the players who have participated in the Gothia Cup, they have gained knowledge and experience from adapting and competing against them.”

Easlick coached both 2013 boys teams at the tournament. The 2013 White team won their friendly scrimmage, and then went 1-2 in their group, losing in the first playoff game. They played teams from England — Easlick’s home country — Sweden and Bolivia.

The 2013 boys blue team won its friendly game, and then went 2-0-1 in its group. The blue team won its first playoff game, and then lost in the second round. It faced teams from Sweden, Portugal, Norway and England. 

While the Gothia Cup games are spread out at fields in the greater Gothenburg area, many of the teams have the opportunity to play at Heden, the Gothia Cup’s main site. Easlick said competing in that arena with his teams was a highlight of the trip.

“We had an awesome crowd, including families from our own club, as well as many spontaneous fans from all over the globe coming to cheer on an American team,” he said. “The World Cup is heralded for uniting the world through soccer, and the Gothia Cup does this, too, for younger players.”

The fact that the World Cup was going on simultaneously during the Gothia Cup made the experience even more special, Lindberg said. 

“The World Cup brings countries together through soccer, and Gothia Cup does exactly the same thing for young players,” he said, in lockstep with Easlick. “Kids from every continent stay in the same hotels and schools, eat together, trade pins and jerseys, make friends despite language barriers, and compete against one another with tremendous respect.”

The girls 2014 team, coached by Southampton Town United coach and Sweden native Hugo Keller, was perhaps the most emblematic of that spirit for all the teams representing Southampton Town United at the Gothia Cup. The team included four regular players from the 2014 girls academy team, along with two former players who now live in Paris, France, and three supremely talented guest players from Colombia.

Despite meeting each other only moments before they took the field for their friendly game at the home field of Åkarp IF Soccer Club, just 15 minutes from Malmö, the girls from Colombia had instant chemistry with the girls from Southampton, as well as their former teammates who now live and play in France. The team won its friendly game and went 2-1 in group play to advance to the ‘A’ bracket of the playoffs, where it lost a close game to a team from Germany in the first round. The Southampton girls played two teams from Sweden and a team from China in the group stage. 

The oldest group from Southampton Town United, the boys 2012 team — coached by Irvin Zuzic, also a native of Sweden — also had an impressive showing, advancing to the ‘A’ bracket in the playoffs and winning a first-round playoff game before a loss in penalty kicks in a match against one of Sweden’s professional club academies.

“After equalizing late, seeing players from our other Southampton teams sprint over and celebrate together on the sideline was one of those moments that perfectly captured what this trip was all about,” Lindberg said of the 2012 team. “Although they eventually lost in penalty kicks, it was an experience they’ll never forget.”

Lindberg also had, for the first time, the special experience of watching his own son, Blake Lindberg, compete in the tournament with the boys 2014 team. “Seeing my own son play alongside many of his closest friends made the experience even more personal for me as both a dad and a coach,” he said.

For Lindberg and the rest of the Southampton United coaches, the tournament is never about the final result on the field. 

“For one week, the world feels a little smaller, and our players get a glimpse of what makes soccer the world’s game,” Lindberg said. “It’s an experience that broadens their perspective far beyond the field.

“This was our fourth Gothia Cup, and every year we come home believing even more strongly in the value of giving our players experiences like this,” he continued. “The soccer is fantastic, but it’s the friendships, cultural experiences, independence, and memories that make the Gothia Cup something our players and families will remember for the rest of their lives.”