Students participated in a soccer tournament modeled after the FIFA World Cup organized by the International Student Council on March 29 and March 30.

This year 16 teams competed against each other bringing the number of participants close to 160 students.

“100 of them at least are internationals, but every team usually has two to three American students as well. It is getting more popular among them to play with us,” said Mohammad Rashid, senior in aerospace engineering and coordinator of the tournament.

In order to participate in the event the teams had to pay a $30 fee which will go entirely towards funding a primary school in Sri Lanka.

“We want to supply the students in Sri Lanka with school supplies like books and pencils for a whole school year,”  Rashid said. “Therefore the collected money will go straight to that charity.”

Soccer is a sport that is played all over the world and therefore provides an excellent medium to bring internationals together with Americans.

Students from so many countries participated that it was very hard to count or even name them all, Rashid said.

“Each country has this passion, and as the International Council it is our job to have them interact with each other and mingle them with the Americans as well,” Rashid said.

Everyone was excited and the competition got intense, Rashid said.

The final game was held March 30 between the teams FIFA and Veishea.

FIFA captain Yasar Al Mazrouei, senior in community and regional planning, had been betting on winning the tournament for the second time in a row, Rashid said.

“Our team won last year and we want to do it again because it will be the last time for us,” Al Mazrouei said.

His team members Theyab Alhajeri, senior in electrical engeinnering and Khalid Al Akbari, senior in mechanical engineering, said that they all really loved soccer and had a great time participating.

Their opponents captain, Aaron Rosenberg, graduate student in wind energy science, engineering and policy, said that even though the game gets heated, afterword everyone is friends with each other.

“We come to Lied all the time to play together for fun. We know each other,” Rosenberg said.

Team FIFA ultimately won the finals claiming gold medals and a trophy, in which their team name will be engraved for a second time. The second and third place teams received medals as well.