From the banks of the River Irwell to the shores of Rimini...

FC United is delighted, and very excited, to announce that we will be competing in next season’s inaugural FENIX Trophy, a ground-breaking international football tournament that will feature eight ‘iconic’ non-professional football clubs.

The clubs, from seven European countries, are famous for a variety of reasons including clubs that have been rebuilt and run by fans and clubs featuring significant social and cultural projects.

Aside from football the FENIX Trophy will also promote friendship between clubs from several European nations and, in the process, allow clubs from across the continent to share best practices within non-professional football. In short, it aims to build a European network of extraordinary non-professional football clubs.

The format
The Fenix Trophy will run from mid-September 2021 to May 2022 with an initial group phase featuring two groups of four teams each that will play each other home and away on midweek evenings (either on Wednesdays or Thursdays) from September through to May before the tournament closes with the ‘Final 8’ phase in May 2022 when all eight clubs will meet in the seaside resort of Rimini, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, with clubs drawn against each other based on their group position to determine the final ranking of the eight clubs.

This means that each team will play seven matches in total – three home and three away games in the group phase before a final match in Rimini – and every match will be streamed live, and will be free to watch, on the tournament’s YouTube channel.

We would like to thank the Northern Premier League for giving us permission to take part in the FENIX Trophy. Any fixture against European opposition must also be sanctioned by the FA and we are in the process of obtaining the necessary approval.

The teams
Eight non-professional clubs from some of Europe’s great cities – Milan, Rome, Manchester, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Warsaw, Prague and Valencia – will be taking part in the tournament and, in addition to ourselves, they are as follows:

• Brera Calcio – the third team of Milan, founded in 2000, Brera currently play in the seventh tier of Italian football

• AFC DWS – one of the oldest football clubs in Amsterdam, Door Wilskracht Sterk were Dutch league champions in 1964 but now play in the sixth tier of amateur football in the Netherlands

• AS Lodigiani 1972 – a Rome-based club renowned for having one of the finest youth systems in Italian football (Francesco Totti is a former player)

• AKS ZLY – a supporter-owned alternative sports club from Warsaw which was founded in 2015 and aims to support its local community

• Prague Raptors – a multi-national club based in the Czech capital that was formed in 2017 and is committed to diversity and equality

• CD Cuenca-Mestallistes 1925 – the oldest amateur club in Valencia, Club Deportivo Cuenca Mestallistes 1925 plays in the seventh tier of Spanish football and recently became a supporter-owned club

• HFC Falke e.V. – a supporter-owned club founded by Hamburg fans in 2014 that currently plays in Germany’s seventh tier

The trophy
The trophy’s symbol is a phoenix which stands as a metaphor for the rebirth of new football club models and FENIX also has a meaning as an acronym based on the tournament’s aims: to create a FRIENDLY environment for clubs, players and supporters; to foster a sense of EUROPEAN togetherness; to draw attention to alternative football models by focusing on the NON-PROFESSIONAL game; to be INNOVATIVE by bringing clubs together based on their affinity rather than simply on football ranking; and to be XENIAL, a word derived from the Ancient Greek word xenos which refers to an attitude of hospitality towards strangers and a mutual respect for cultural differences.

Friendly
European
Non-professional
Innovative
Xenial

The draw
A press conference to officially announce the tournament will take place at 11.30am on Saturday 5th June 2021 at La Borghesiana sports centre (the home of AS Lodigiani 1972) in Rome and this will be followed by the draw for the initial group phase of the tournament at 12.30pm which will be streamed live on the tournament’s YouTube channel FENIX Trophy TV - you can watch it here.

The two Italian sides (Brera and Lodigiani) will be kept apart in the initial group phase but the rest of the teams will be drawn at random. Following the draw Brera and Lodigiani will play a friendly match which will kick off at 2pm and will also be streamed live on the FENIX Trophy YouTube channel.

The history
Regular trips to Europe have been part of our supporter culture at Manchester United and now at FC United for donkey’s years and tales of trips to the likes of St Etienne, Rotterdam, Turin, Barcelona, Leipzig and Hamburg are the stuff of legend.

Big United were, of course, the very first English club to play in the European Cup in 1956 and, sixty-five years on from Matt Busby’s European trail blazers, it’s perhaps fitting that FC United should create our own little bit of history as the first English team to compete in a new European football competition.

Speaking of the tournament, chair of the board Adrian Seddon said: “From our trip to play Lokomotive Leipzig at the end of our first season and Djurgårdens in Stockholm's historic Olympic Stadium to playing St Pauli in their centenary match, Detroit in the US and in front of 30,000 spectators in South Korea, to name just a few, the 'Euro Away' has become part of the DNA of our football club and a highlight for supporters, players and coaches.

“We are delighted to be announcing our participation in the Fenix Trophy and look forward to competing for European honours for the first time whilst giving our supporters the chance to experience FC United playing in some of Europe's most iconic football cities and welcoming new friends to Broadhurst Park.”

The manager
Looking forward to becoming the first FC United manager to lead his side into European competition next season, Neil Reynolds said: “To have the opportunity to manage this amazing football club on a European stage is a dream come true for me.

“I’ve heard the tales of the club’s glorious European away days and now this squad will have the chance to experience it for themselves. I cannot be complimentary enough of the work that has gone on behind the scenes to pull off this major coup.

“My excitement levels have gone through the roof and I know this will be an experience of a lifetime for all involved. It will be tremendous to see the FC fans in Europe and I will be determined to make sure that we are not just there to make up the numbers. Success is what we strive for.”

The buzz
So it’s time to have a rummage in your bottom drawer, dust off that passport and grab your Head bag as we look forward to three Euro aways, a finals weekend in an Italian seaside resort and our first ever midweek European matches under the lights at Broadhurst Park.

If the Reds should play in Rome or Harpurhey…