A Rose Bank player attempts a shot against South Jamaica in Sunday’s Community Cup. Photo: Shane O’Brien.
June 9, 2025. By Shane O’Brien.
Hundreds of young soccer stars from neighborhoods across the five boroughs competed in New York City FC’s (NYCFC) fourth-annual Community Cup at the Triborough Bridge Playground in Astoria on Sunday.
Children aged 8-11 from 30 different neighborhoods across the city took part in the annual tournament, which featured six teams per borough. Teams competed in qualifying matches across the city on Saturday, with 10 teams heading to Triborough Bridge Playground as finalists on Sunday.
South Jamaica became the first-ever Queens team to win the tournament, beating Mott Haven of the Bronx in the final of the 2025 tournament, organized by City in the Community (CITC), the non-profit arm of NYCFC.
South Jamaica celebrates winning the 2025 Community Cup. Photo: NYCFC
CITC provides free soccer coaching and mentoring to children across the five boroughs with a commitment to reaching historically underserved communities. The non-profit provides safe places to play and learn and has installed 50 mini “blue” pitches across the city through the New York City Soccer Initiative, impacting more than 30,000 children since 2013.
Photo: Shane O’Brien
Last Monday, NYCFC announced that 26 new blue pitches will be installed across the city as part of the next phase of the New York City Soccer Initiative ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Sunday’s Community Cup featured free food, face painting and soccer mini games to keep participating children entertained as they awaited the chance to represent their neighborhood in the tournament.
NYCFC CEO Brad Sims said the Community Cup has grown exponentially since its inaugural year in 2022, stating that the event has an “enormous impact” on kids, families, and neighborhoods across the city.
Sims believes that the tournament promotes neighborhood pride among participating teams, adding that he initially thought the Community Cup would promote borough pride among participating players. However, the tournament has grown so big that the competing teams are now “hyperlocal.”
Bailee Eaglin, NYCFC’s director of Community Development, said the Community Cup is an opportunity for young children to take pride in their neighborhoods, especially for children in low-income or underserved communities.
She noted that the winning team is rewarded with a trip to the Mayor’s office, stating that such a visit can uplift an entire neighborhood, especially those that are not often in the spotlight.
“Last year, it was Park Hill (on Staten Island) and the community was just absolutely thrilled,” Eaglin said. “They’re not getting the recognition in that neighborhood.
“The same can be said for a lot of neighborhoods competing this year. We’ve got Brownsville and Bushwick here today. We’ve got Harlem and Jamaica competing. It’s really special, it’s really important.”
Photo: Shane O’Brien
Eaglin said the Community Cup is not just a recognition of the kids representing their neighborhoods but of the “entire community” that is uplifting them.
She said NYCFC’s blue pitches are currently in 86% of the city’s neighborhoods, and the company plans to expand its presence to each neighborhood.
Eaglin described soccer as a universal language that allows children from different backgrounds to socialize with one another, providing an opportunity for new arrivals to the city to get to know their new neighborhoods.
“Where language fails, soccer doesn’t,” Eaglin said. “Soccer speaks and it’s a way for us to connect and socialize these young people through the sport itself.”
Reyes Andon, a PE teacher at PS 376 in Bushwick who coaches soccer programming with CITC, said the free programming helps connect entire communities.
“It not only brings everybody together, but also empowers kids to be seen in value and celebrate something that they really love,” Andon said.
Andon said the free programming has a huge impact on local families, many of whom do not have the resources to pay for their children to play for a local team.
“A lot of parents and families that I serve in my school don’t have the resources to be able to send their kids to a program or team and buy the uniforms,” Andon said.
Sims, meanwhile, said the cost of joining soccer teams can be “prohibitive” for many families across the city, stating that the club’s free programming on blue pitches helps promote equity among all neighborhoods.
“A lot of these kids probably haven’t had that opportunity to be part of a team, and the great lessons are learned by being a part of a team.”
He said NYCFC’s free programming has helped the Community Cup grow enormously since 2022, stating that the club has focused as much on integrating local coaches to run the programming as it has on installing the infrastructure to create safe spaces for children to play.
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