Red Bull Street Style is looking for the best freestyle soccer players in the world – and we are actually talking about the whole world. The last two weeks alone have seen players competing across three continents for a place in the final in Sao Paolo – against different backdrops, but with the same enthusiasm.
Diego, Nedzad, Terry, Maher, Boris and Fernando may be used to different ambient temperatures and use different languages to order drinks that give you wings. But each of them has the same passion: freestyle soccer, the skilful art of juggling with a football. Red Bull Street Style is all about guys from Ecuador, Croatia, the Bahamas, the United Arab Emirates, Siberia and Brazil being given a chance to showcase their skills – preferably at the final between the world's best freestylers in Sao Paolo on November 18.Injured leg, but confidence intact
Diego, Nedzad, Terry et al are just six out of hundreds of soccer freestylers currently battling it out at numerous Red Bull Street Style Qualifying Events around the world in a bid for fame, honour and a plane ticket to Brazil. The difference between them and most of their rivals is that they are already one step closer to their goal. For example Maher Ali, 18, won the national final of the United Arab Emirates in Dubai on August 29 – despite competing in the event, held at the Mall of the Emirates, with an injured leg. "I never expected to win," says Maher, "but if I'm well prepared there's no reason to fear anyone at the final either."
The younger they are, the greater the success
Terry "TJ" Delancy is already looking forward to the mega event in Brazil. The 14-year-old won the national final of the Bahamas, held at historic Fort Charlotte, Nassau, on August 31. "I've only just come back from Brazil," smiles the junior player, who was over there attending training camp with his soccer team. Lads of his age are, incidentally, no rarity at Red Bull Street Style finals: on the same day in Zagreb, Croatia, 15-year-old Nicola Aleksic wowed the crowd at the Red Bull Street Style Qualifier on the roof of the Hotel Antunovic. Because he was only narrowly defeated by Nedzad Brajic, 33, both players will be allowed to travel to Brazil: Aleksic representing Croatia, Brajic representing Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also narrowly defeated at the Siberian qualifier in Krasnoyarsk on September 4 was 13-year-old Leonid Yarygin.
National competitions in around 50 countries
Also fighting for a place in the final are rivals Boris Emelyanov and Brazilian Fernando "Pitt" Carvalho, who won the qualifier in Rio on August 31, as well as Ecuadorian Diego Moreira, one of eight winners of the Selection Event in Quito. Like many other athletes, they will all have to prove themselves in their respective national finals in the coming weeks following their success at the regional events.
Red Bull Street Style Dubai
Terry Delancy
Red Bull Street Style Zagreb
