From Player to Coach – 37 Years at Gothia Cup

Torsten Schollmayer first participated in Gothia Cup 1987. This year he is back as a coach for SSV Strümp.

In 1987, Torsten Schollmayer was 10 years old and arrived in Gothenburg to participate in Gothia Cup. He later came back two more times as a player. This year, 37 years later, he’s back in Gothia Cup to participate as a coach.

In total, Torsten participated 3 times in the tournament and the last one in the B16 series in 1993. The trip to Gothenburg was the first time abroad for many players and it was the journey there that brought them closer together. 

As a coach for SSV Strümp B12 he feels like the tournament still is somewhat the same.
– The biggest difference is that it wasn’t as big of an event. We all played in the city and not in the smaller towns outside, as my team does now. I still have scars from playing at Heden because in 1993 it was solid turf, he says.

His fondest memory is a game against a team from Bolivia. He remembers that they were so much better and later got to play and win in the finals. Later in life, his experience in Gothia Cup inspired him to move to Sweden where he studied at university.
– It was because of Gothia Cup that I fell in love with the country and decided to study here.  You meet so many new people. The team I coach had already gotten friends from Spain on the train to Kungsbacka, says Torsten Schollmayer.

It was due to his fond memories of the tournament that Torsten Schollmayer decided to register SSV Strümp to Gothia Cup. Several of the other parents joined him on their journey here.
- Despite them being different ages and that they´re not speaking the same language they managed to bond over football – regardless of the language barriers. I see that my team is much more independent then I was at their age, so they don’t have the same interest as I had.
– We come here for the experience and the adventure, to win is always fun but the experience is much bigger, Torsten explained.