The World Cup is coming to UT — kind of.
The foreign languages at UTK will compete Wednesday against each other in a miniature World Cup at UT’s Regal Soccer stadium. The foreign language teams feature students from each of the foreign languages offered at UT. The tournament will start at 4 p.m. and is open to the public and is free.
The tournament was first held in 2013, and was organized by the Italian club to bring the foreign language department together and celebrate the world’s love of soccer. The Italian club held an inter-department soccer tournament and that tournament grew into all of the languages coming together to play each other.
Renée D’Elia-Zunino, an Italian professor, said that the faculty enjoys the competition as much as the students do.
“The faculty can coach and encourage but mostly the faculty prepare,” D’Elia-Zunino said. “We are doing this for a reason, we want our students to be exposed to the language and culture. We prepare them a week or two before hand and give them all the information they need and then the students go to the field and perform and we go and cheer.”
Two students playing for the Italian side are senior in economics Ethan Williams and junior in arts Natalie Thedford. Both students said they have prior soccer experience with Thedford playing soccer since she was little and Williams playing club soccer in middle and high school.
“I really enjoyed my Italian class,” Thedford said. “I would love to represent them in the soccer field.”
When asked which team will win the soccer tournament, both Williams and Thedford said the Italians will win.
If the Italian team wins the tournament, it will be their first time winning the event they started. The first tournament was won by the Brazilian team over the Germans. In the second tournament last year, the Italian team made it to the finals but lost the French soccer team. D’Elia-Zunino said that loss was hard for her as her husband is French and gave her some good-natured ribbing.
D’Elia-Zunino said students not playing in the soccer games are encouraged to come and support their favorite foreign language and dress up and have fun. She also stated that noise makers are welcome and Brenz Pizza will be supplying food.
Win or lose, D’Elia-Zunino believed the event serves as an opportunity for spectators to appreciate the different cultures represented on the field.
“Sports can change the world in a positive way, and bring down barriers of language and origin. Languages are like sports, you need to know the culture behind them both to fully appreciate, and master, the nuances and rules. An event like this exposes a community to a mini world cup, with all the flare and excitement.”
