Dubai: The nation’s best young football teams fought it out for the Du Football Champions (DuFC) titles as Season 4 drew to a close on Saturday. A day of intense matches between Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain and Dubai’s best teams took place in front of cheering supporters at The Sevens in Dubai.

The Finals of the award-winning Du Football Champions was attended by senior officials from Du, partners La Liga, the UAE Sports Councils, Ministry of Education and the UAE Schools Sports Association.

While the teams met for the final time this season for the chance to lift silverware, La Liga coaches were on the lookout for exceptional talents who will be selected to join the Du La Liga High Performance Centre Under-12, U14, U16 and U18 teams. These teams will then be invited to attend the all-expenses-paid La Liga Summer Scouting Camp in Spain in August where they will play friendlies against top La Liga youth clubs. During this camp, they will be exposed to scouts from the clubs and similarly to past years, top players are expected to be offered trial opportunities.

Speaking on the finals, Fernando Sanz, Director General for La Liga in MENA and DuFC Director said: “We have seen exceptional football in the Du Football Champions in its fourth season and an overall increase in the level of play over the last few years. This encouraged us to expand Du La Liga High Performance Centre from one age category to four, to add an Abu Dhabi Centre and to establish girls scouting. In a few short years, Du La Liga HPC has increased from 20 to 150 players and the HPC teams have won the nation’s official league for three years running. We look forward to welcome new talent from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and northern emirates whose journey to professional football careers is about to begin — thanks to the exceptional programme we have established at Du La Liga High Performance Centre.”

Fans were treated to excellent football in the UAE Schools Cup Boys U12 category between The International School of Choueifat and Dubai English Speaking College (DESC), with Choueifat claiming the title with a narrow 3-2 penalty-shootout win after the game ended 0-0.

DESC followed up on this loss with two straight wins in U14 against Sharjah’s Al Maarifa and U16 against Hatta’s Rashid Bin Saeed. Theirs was not the only dream to come true. Finally, and after four years of trying, Boys U18 Al Maarifa International Private School from Sharjah crushed Fareeq Al Marhoum Ahmad with a 6-2 win securing them as Champions of the Du Football Champions Boys U18 category.