Fox Sports en Espanol Kicks Off Reality Show
Soccer Competition Pits U.S. Amateur Teams
Laura Martinez -- Multichannel News, 7/1/2008 8:05:00 AM
Fox Sports en Español this month kicked off the taping of El sueño de tu vida, a soccer competition featuring amateur adult teams from across the U.S.
A partnership with Sears and Alianza de Fútbol Hispano, an organization dedicated to develop and support amateur Hispanic soccer in the U.S., El Sueño follows amateur players as they take part in a series of elimination rounds leading up to the Copa Alianza, a tournament featuring the best adult soccer players in the nation’s top Hispanic markets.
Through El Sueño, a series of scouts from the Mexican Federation of Futbol and top teams from the Mexican First Division will tour the nation with Alianza and conduct open tryouts in each city, prior to selection of the local all-star team.
“This is really a big deal,” said Juan Ignacio Blanco, Alianza’s VP and general manager. “Not only we have the largest [soccer] cup at [the] amateur level, but we are a national organization and teams are summoned by invitation only.” Eight groups of four teams take part in the competition, which kicked off June 14 in Phoenix and will run through September in 10 cities.
A final all-star game will be played Sept. 20 in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in its entirety on Fox Sports en Español.
The competition also involves a faceoff between the winners of the Copa Alianza in each city and Mexico’s top reserve professional teams, including Club América, CD Chivas de Guadalajara, Club Atlas and Club Pachuca.
Details of the TV show are still sketchy, but El sueño was among the new programs FSE touted during its May upfront presentation in New York.
