Dubai: Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) Dubai student Arnor Gauti Brynjolfsson received the top prize at the MUSS World Skills Final event at Old Trafford Stadium last weekend. The event was hosted by United legend, Sir Bobby Charlton.

Earlier this year, Brynjolfsson, 11, and Rayan Makki, 13, achieved the highest scores at the annual Dubai Skills Challenge Final. They flew to Manchester last week to compete against MUSS players from around the globe in the World Skills Finals.

"Having one of our MUSS participants receive the top score at the World Skills Final is testament to the high-calibre of coaching that our MUSS programme provides.

"We are very proud of... Brynjolfsson, who represented MUSS and Dubai at the competition, and we hope his achievement will encourage the other participants to achieve great results in the coming years," said Khalid Al Zarouni, president of Dubai Sports City, the operators of the MUSS programme.

The two winners played on the Old Trafford pitch before United took on Blackburn Rovers on October 31. They were coached by Manchester United's first team coach René Meulensteen and reserve team manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who were both impressed with the skill levels.

"Very good. If you think about the age group, when I compare it to when I was that age, the skills they know now are a big, big difference.

"[However] I've tried to teach them to go back to basics — receiving and passing [the ball], which for me are the most important things in football," Solskjaer said.

When asked about the World Skills Final, Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager said: "As you know, we've always supported and nurtured youth here at this club and there's no doubt young people are the future of the game.

"The kids on these soccer school courses get to express themselves in a coaching environment that has taken its lead from the work Rene Meulensteen used to do at our Academy.

"That's the model they work off, so the kids coming to these courses are getting the same sort of coaching and using the same drills our academy players use. We like to spread our influence around the world to places like Dubai and I think we do very well with that."

The triumphant Brynjolfsson returned to Dubai earlier this week happily and said: "I am so excited. It [the World Skills Final] was a difficult competition but I trained extra hard and tried my best. When I won, it was the best day of my life."

Tommy Wingrove, MUSS Dubai head coach, said: "Brynjolfsson is a fantastic player and has been performing admirably since he started the programme two years ago.

Oustanding

"He has shown outstanding skills and we are all very proud of his well-deserved award. MUSS offers a priceless experience, which is what makes our programme so popular.

"Both winners have shown exceptional football skills and had the enormous privilege to compete on the same playing grounds as their football heroes."

Each Manchester United Soccer Schools programme involves participation in the Skills Challenges.

All players have the opportunity to win a place at the Dubai Skills Challenge Final. The winners of this event are selected to represent MUSS Dubai at the World Skills Final.

How to register

The next 10 week programme will start in January 2010 at Dubai Sports City. Registration for the MUSS programme can be done via the MUSS website www.muss.ae or by calling Dubai Sports City on 04 425 1125.