Alianza De Futbol Hispano Kicks-Off 2008 Tournament.

Alianza de Futbol Hispano officially announced the schedule of the Copa Alianza 2008 and unveiled three new and unique events that highlight this year’s tour. At the heart of the new events is the Alianza National Scouting Combine that features some of Mexico’s most accomplished scouts hosting open tryouts for selection to Local and National All-Star teams which will compete against Mexico’s top reserve professional teams. Already established as the premier amateur Hispanic soccer tournament in the U.S., Copa Alianza will provide the best showcase for the adult Hispanic players in top U.S. Hispanic markets.

Copa Alianza, which is scheduled to take place from June through September in ten cities throughout the US, kicked off the 2008 season on June 14th in Phoenix, AZ (see schedule below).

Leading off the new events, the Copa Alianza champion in each city will host a professional Mexican Primera Division A team (reserve club) in front of their hometown fans. Participating Mexican clubs include Club America, CD Chivas de Guadalajara, Club Atlas and Club Pachuca.

Another new program created as part of Alianza’s partnership with Fox Sports en Español and Sears, is El Sueño de Tu Vida, the selection of an All-Star team in each city comprised of the best adult amateur Hispanic players. Through El Sueño de Tu Vida, premier scouts from the Mexican Federation of Futbol (Federación Mexicana de Futbol Asociación, A. C.) and top teams from the Mexican First Division (Primera División) will tour with Alianza and conduct open tryouts in each city prior to selecting the Local All-Star team. The Alianza National Scouting Combine features Mexico’s most accomplished and influential talent evaluators including Cristóbal Ortega who became a legend with Club América; Pachuca’s Carlos Trucco; Jose Luis Arce who influenced the Mexican Federation’s enormous recent accomplishments at the youth level (U17 Wold Cup champions); and José Enrique Vaca, an influential scout for Club América. Each local All-Star team will also host a Mexican Primera Division A (professional developmental team) club including Club América, CD Chivas de Guadalajara, Club Atlas and Club Pachuca in the Sears All-Star Game.

A third new event features the selection of four (4) members from each Local All-Star squad to tryout for the “Alianza National All-Star Team” which will face Tapatío (Chivas de Guadalajara’s Primera A Dvision team) in Los Angeles on September 20th in the National Alianza All Star Game. The game will be broadcast in its entirety on Fox Sports en Español.

“With more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000 USD) in prizes and the opportunity to tryout for Mexico’s top professional scouts, in addition to the chance to travel to Mexico and live the experience of training with the reserve teams of professional teams, the Copa Alianza tournament demonstrates Alianza de Futbol Hispano’s ongoing commitment of bringing the highest caliber of exciting soccer programming to local Hispanic communities,” said Juan Ignacio Blanco, Alianza’s Vice President and General Manager. “Alianza continues to fill the void of programming in the amateur Hispanic soccer world and provides corporate marketers a compelling platform to reach the burgeoning U.S. Hispanic market in a meaningful way through soccer.”