The Gazette cheers on Delaware's top goalie at the Gothia Cup in Sweden

The Gothia Cup is the world’s largest youth soccer tournament held annually in Gothenburg, Sweden. Starting in 1975, over 1,000,000 boys and girls ages 10-17 have played in this July tournament.  

This year from July 17-23, 1600 boys and girls teams from 59 countries played 4100 matches on 110 pitches.  Only 2 American teams, by invitation only, represented the U.S. in the Women’s Age 17 Elite bracket (Puma Cup); FC New England (FCNE), and Northern CA (NorCal). One of those players, Ava Ripanti, the granddaughter of Ruth Ann and Rick Dressel of Rehoboth, was recruited by FCNE as their goalkeeper.

Accompanied by her dad, Anthony Ripanti, Ava traveled with the team from JFK to Denmark, where they played several tune-up games and got acquainted with the other players.

Three days later they arrived in Gothenburg, where FCNE had the honor of walking in the opening ceremony parade in front of 60,000 spectators.  FCNE did well enough to reach the quarter-finals but were beaten by a very good German team who lost to the eventual winner, NorCal.

MomMom and PopPop would have loved to have watched from the Gothenburg stands but will wait until Spring of 2023 to watch Middletown High School girl’s soccer team make a run at another state championship behind the leadership of the state’s top goalie, Ava Ripanti.