Kanga Cup
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| Founded | 1991 |
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| Region | Australia (AFC) International (FIFA) |
| Number of teams | 335 (2015) |
| Television broadcasters | Self-broadcast on YouTube |
| Website | Kanga Cup |
The Kanga Cup is a week-long international youth association football tournament held annually in Canberra, Australia during July. The tournament is run as an open cup consisting of both male and female competitors with teams from diverse backgrounds including clubs, schools, associations and community groups coming together to compete in age groups ranging from U9s to U18s. The Cup is hosted by Capital Football and is sanctioned by Football Federation of Australia (FFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Since 2015 the tournament has been known as the NSR Kanga Cup for sponsorship reasons. The Kanga Cup is regarded as the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere and is the most coveted prize in youth football in Australia.
The Kanga Cup was founded in 1991 and held in Canberra, Australia with 35 participants. The cup moved to Canberra in 1993 and has been played in the Australian Capital ever since.
In 2012, the Kanga Cup welcomed the first representative team from South America in the tournament's 22-year history as 16 players of Estrella Solitaria club from the small working-class town of Batuco, Chile made the long trip over to Canberra. Chilean Ambassador to Australia, Pedro Pablo Diaz, described the opportunity for these teenagers as an unbelievable trip of a lifetime and a chance for these kids to experience a different culture for the first time. He went on to say most of these kids were very poor and this was probably the first and last time they will get to travel internationally.
2013 saw funding cuts for the tournament from the ACT Tourism budget, with only $30,000 available compared to the previous year's budget of $60,000. However, despite the funding cut backs the Kanga Cup still recorded record numbers of participants and teams with 150 interstate teams and six international teams joining 92 local ACT sides. It was considered a particularly good year for local teams with fourteen making grand finals and six walking away with trophies.
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