Virgil van Dijk shares heartwarming message after Virgil’s Legacy Trophy weekend

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Image Credits: Instagram/@VirgilvanDijk

The first edition of Virgil’s Legacy Trophy took place over the weekend at Willem II’s youth stadium in Tilburg, marking the return of an international under-13 competition designed by Liverpool and Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk in partnership with his boyhood club.

Sixteen elite academy teams from across Europe competed in the tournament, held from September 13 to 14.

Participating clubs included Liverpool, Ajax, Arsenal, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Celtic, PSV, Manchester City, FC Groningen and, of course, hosts Willem II.

All fixtures were played 11-a-side on top-quality pitches, with group-stage matches at Sportpark Prinsenhoeve and the knockout rounds culminating in a showpiece final at the Koning Willem II Stadium.

Liverpool’s U13 side topped their group with convincing wins over the hosts, Bayer Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain before advancing through the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

In the final, they faced Feyenoord, defeating the Dutch giants 2-1 to lift the inaugural Legacy Trophy.

Striker Ade Adediran earned the tournament’s Diogo Jota Award as Most Valuable Player after scoring eight goals in five matches, while defender Joshua-Kyle Mfunyi was named Best Defender.

And now taking to Instagram, Virgil van Dijk has penned a heartwarming message of thanks to everyone involved in making his vision a reality:

“First edition of the Virgil’s Legacy Trophy done and it was an absolute honour to give all these kids an experience of a lifetime!”

“A lot of hard work went into it, and there are many people to thank for as I like to do.”

“I wanna thank all the volunteers, grounds man, staff members, referees, ball boys and girls.”

“I probably forget a couple people but you all made this a success and I appreciate that a lot.

“On a final note, to all young players out there, keep working hard and enjoy the journey.”

“Thanks again, I’m so grateful and excited for next year!!” the Liverpool skipper signed off with.

Van Dijk, who was unable to attend because of first-team commitments at Burnley.

Speaking to liverpoolfc.com after his side’s Premier League win, he expressed pride in seeing the competition succeed:

“I ran in [after the game] and found out that the boys did us proud in my own youth tournament in Holland?

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