2014 International Cup dates announced

The AFL today announced the 2014 International Cup will be held in Melbourne from Saturday August 9 to Saturday August 23 2014.

The fifth International Cup carnival will include two AFL curtain-raiser matches, matches played at AFL and VFL venues, a men’s and women’s competition, a standalone AFL 9s fixture and matches linked with community football leagues.

AFL International Development Manager Tony Woods said the aim was to make IC14 the biggest International Cup to date.

“We are committed to building on the success of IC11 and we believe we can once again deliver a great experience for all participating nations by hosting this event in the AFL’s heartland.

“By basing the carnival in Melbourne we are able to engage with the broader football community including the AFL, VFL and suburban leagues.

“We look forward to welcoming countries from Oceania, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. While the countries have various playing standards and local development programs, the common denominator is all the participants share our love of playing our great game,” he said.

“It’s quite magical to witness firsthand the cultural and language interpretation and expression of AFL as it is developed and nurtured in the arms of communities all over the world.”

The International Cup is a feature in the AFL International calendar and plays a role in supporting the growth of AFL internationally. The concept grew from the passion of committed individuals from both Australia and abroad following successful smaller carnivals with international participation.

The International Cup is played every three years. No expatriate Australians are eligible to play. Teams comprise solely of amateurs who must be nationals of the country they represent.

The International Cup has significantly grown from the first carnival in 2002 where 11 countries competed. In 2011 there were 23 teams – 18 men’s teams across two divisions and five women’s teams that traveled to Sydney and Melbourne.

2011 Men’s teams: Canada, China, Denmark, Fiji, France, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Japan, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peace Team, South Africa, Sweden, Timor-Leste, Tonga and USA. 2011 Women’s teams: Canada, Ireland, Indigenous/Multicultural, Papua New Guinea and USA.

The 2014 edition will include an AFL 9’s (similar to our Euro Cup) component for the first time. This is an exciting and new evolution to the AFL International Cup with an objective of providing an entry level opportunity for a greater number of countries and teams to be involved without diluting the strength of main tournament. Given the modified nature of the matches the AFL 9’s event will run from Friday 15th of August through to Saturday 23rd August. 

In its inaugural year AFL 9’s will cater for new developing countries, therefore in order to be eligible you must have either competed in Division 2 Men’s of IC11 or not have participated in IC11 at all.

Further details about the 2014 International Cup can be found here: www.aflic14.com.au

Please return completed nomination form to Peter Romaniw peter.romaniw@afl.com.au by Friday August 30, 2013: 2014 AFL International Cup – Country Nomination Form