Our City Community Cup returned on Saturday 15th June 2024 at Lockleaze Sports Centre, where Wesport were able to host another year of the football tournament as part of the wider Bristol Refugee Festival.

Since 2011, the annual football tournament has brought together people and communities from across the West of England, and beyond, to connect, share and celebrate. In line with the ethos of the Bristol Refugee Festival, the aim of the tournament is to celebrate the contribution that refugees and asylum seekers make to the city, create a better understanding of why people seek sancutary, help overcome misconceptions and promote cohesion within the community.

This years tournament was organised and delivered by Wesport along with invaluable support from Bristol City Robins Foundation and the Gloucestershire Football Association. Wesport are also grateful for the continued sponsorship from Craddys and new sponsorship from Babbasa, without which the tournament could not go ahead. A massive thank you also goes to the volunteers who supported on the day as it would've been tremendously difficult to run the tournament without them.

The setup for the day started out bleakly with rain pouring down while the pitches were being set up but thankfully the weather worked in our favour as the rain stopped just before the groups matches kicked off at 11:00. This gave each team the opportunity to progress to the knockout stages - with  two teams from each group going through. The knockout stages gave us some fantastic matches which showcased some close scorelines, individual brilliances and even a penalty shootout!

All this culminated to the final which took place between ABC Together and Joga Bonito. ABC Togther are a team of asylum seekers and refugees supported by Aid Box Community, while Joga Bonito are a team of players made up of students from Trinity Academy, located just down the road from Lockleaze Sport Centre. It was a great final to watch, with some great football and teamwork on display, but in the end there could only be one winner.

A huge congratulations to ABC Together who were able to make the final push and come out with the victory and lift the trophy.

This year, we saw 18 teams in total register for the tournament with 7 of those made of refugees and asylum seekers and 11 teams who entered from local communities.

Participating Teams this year were:
ABC Together, ABC Tuesday, ABC Wednesday, AFC Bohemia, Avon Fire & Rescue A, Avon Fire & Rescue B, Borderlands A, Borderlands B, Bristol Drugs Project, Bedminster United FC, Craddys, Finest FC, GFC United, Imps United, Joga Bonito, Thurderbolts FC (City of Bristol College), Woodlands FC, Yellow Stars (City of Bristol College).