Dwayne De Rosario stars in FIFA Legends Cup

Canadian legend Dwayne De Rosario was honoured as part of a special group of world football legends participating in the inaugural FIFA Legends Cup during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. De Rosario and his team the “Northern Bears” were runners up in the eight-team competition featuring nearly 100 greats of the game from around the world.

Streamed live on FIFA+, the Northern Bears reached the Final of the six-a-side competition before losing 5:3 to South American Panther. De Rosario was part of the build up on the Northern Bears’ first goal scored by Mexican legend Luis Hernández and later got an assist on the third goal scored by American legend Heather O’Reilly.

Retired in 2019, De Rosario was a Concacaf champion, a four-time Canada Soccer Player of the Year, and a one-time record holder for Men’s National Team international “A” goals. He represented Canada at the FIFA Confederations Cup Korea/Japan 2001 as well as the FIFA U-20 World Cup Malaysia 1997.

“Football is about joy, about smiles, about fun,” said the FIFA President Gianni Infantino on FIFA+. “We are here with incredible Legends, world champions, players who have written the history of football. They (FIFA Legends) have made us fall in love hundreds and hundreds of times with the game. These football players who are here, they are not ex-football players, they go from the status of football player to the status of Legend.”

The mini tournament ran 15-16 December at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. All matches were 30 minutes in duration, with 15-minute halves separated by a five-minute half-time break.