Athletico SC honored their younger teams for their most recent achievements, as they announced the joining of their player Antoine Assaf (14 years old) to Lyon Club.
Athletico Club honored several of its sports teams on August 7 at their stadium in Dbayeh. These teams occupied advanced positions in the Lebanese Football Championships in 2023 for the age groups of under 16, 15, 14 and 13. Several media men, coaches and players along with their families were present during the event held by Rene Matta, the club’s president. Hussein Abu Yahya, representing Al-Ahed Club and Robert Paoli, Chairman of the board of directors of the Athletico Foundation were also in attendance.
The ceremony opened with a speech from the host, George Suwaidi, as he congratulated the club and those in charge of it for the achievements made by the teams for all age groups. Moreover, he praised the achievements of Athletico Club for the under-11 and 12-year teams, who won the title of the Lebanese Championship.
Suwaidi added, “We would also like to honor the nine players who grew up in Athletico Club and are currently playing in the ranks of Al-Ahed Club, after they won the Lebanese Championship title for the U-18 and U-20 years.” According to him, this is the evidence that the club’s management has developed since its inception in 2006. Therefore, their main goal is to graduate and refine the talents of a rising generation.
As for the second speech, Matta congratulated the technical staff and the players for these distinguished results. He proceeded to announce that the U-13 team ranked second, the U-14 team fourth, the U-15 and U-16 teams second, in addition to the U-12 and U-11 teams winning two titles in the Lebanese championship. Matta paid tribute to the U-15 goalkeeper Andre Azoury for his performance in the Lebanese Championship, as he handed him a shield of appreciation in the name of the club. Athletico player Elio Bejjani was also honored as the tournament’s top scorer for the U-16 group.
For the third speech, Firas Majed, the technical director, thanked once again the club’s technical staff for constantly seeking to develop the capabilities of the players, as he noted that Club Athletico is one of the largest academies in Lebanon.
In the last word of the event, Paoli reiterated that the participation of the family and coaches was crucial in these achievements. He also thanked the French club Lyon, with which Athletico has maintained a sister club relationship for many years. He then spoke about the close relationship that Athletico has with Al-Ahed Club. Afterwards, Paoli handed a shield of appreciation to Abu Yahya to honor the nine players who joined Al-Ahed from Athletico and won the league in two different age groups.
Finally, Paoli announced a surprise, which was the joining of the player Antoine Assaf to the Lyon club, who started playing for Athletico when he was four years old. Assaf then delivered a speech that was met with much applause, as he indicated that he was chosen alongside 15 players out of about 10,000 players to join Lyon. He concluded by expressing his heartfelt wishes for continued success for Athletico in the future. The club ended the proceedings by gifting Assaf a Lyon shirt and honoring the rest of the coaches and medical staff.
