The Return of B.T.B.’s Mahler Under-Thirteen Mundialito Football Tournament

The Belize Tourism Board’s Anthony Mahler Under-Thirteen Mundialito Football Tournament is back. The home of the tournament has been the M.C.C. Grounds for the last fourteen seasons. This year the games will get a new home, the recently renovated Berger Field on Vernon Street. The longstanding tournament kicks off on Saturday morning. We spoke with Minister Anthony Mahler about the games.

Anthony Mahler

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“You know mundialito is dear to my heart. I was proud the other night when I went to the game to do see Guatemala and Belize play and there are four members of the national team who came through the mundialito system. That is what we are trying to do. I think this is our fourteenth season. We have been doing this for a long time. This year we have twelve boys team and for the first time we have six female teams. We will be at the Berger Field for the next few months giving those young people an opportunity to hone their skills to their life lessons and the discipline of competition.”

Paul Lopez

“What do the prizes look like and would you say that there is continued training and practice and after the tournament?”

Anthony Mahler

“It is no monetary prizes; they are children between nine and thirteen. So they get huge trophies and what we have done in the past and we are going to reinitiate this year is that we take three of the best players, two males and one female, to go to a development camp in Florida for a week or two.”

We will have the highlights from this weekend for you on Monday.