A Yellowknife boy has been impressing international soccer scouts, all before his 11th birthday.
Most recently, 10-year-old Yuuma Tabbaa was invited to participate in a soccer tournament in Madrid this coming June, and it won’t be his first time playing on international soil.
Yuuma said he’s known soccer was different from other sports to him for quite a long time.
“My favourite part is that I love it, and then I wanna go pro when I’m older,” he said.
What started as kicking his sister’s soccer ball around the house as a toddler quickly developed into some serious skills as he got older, Yuuma’s dad Maher Tabbaa said.
In 2023, Yuuma attended a Real Madrid camp in Edmonton. It was there that he received an award for being one of the top shooters. Yuuma was also selected as one of the best players at the camp overall.
So out of the ten or so camps happening across Canada, Yuuma was invited to be on the Canadian team to compete in the Real Madrid World Challenge in Madrid in March 2024.
“It felt good to get the top scorer award so I know I’m doing good and I want to work harder,” said Yuuma.
Yuuma said in games he usually plays midfield and enjoys attacking. (Nadeer Hashmi/CBC)
Tabbaa said it’s a pleasure to watch Yuuma grow and develop his soccer skills.
“It’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes, but we all enjoy it and we love to do whatever we can do for this little champ. Hopefully he’ll be a big champ one day and he’ll make us all proud of him. I’m sure that he will,” said Tabbaa.
At his Real Madrid tournament last March, Yuuma was scouted by Kaptiva Sports Academy to play in a tournament in Barcelona.
Yuuma just returned from that trip last month.
“It was very competitive and I got the motivation to train harder to play with them when I’m older and I hope that happens,” said Yuuma.
Yuuma was scouted by Kaptiva again while in Barcelona to participate in another international tournament in Madrid this June.
“I’m happy that people are looking forward to me and selecting me to go to Europe,” said Yuuma.
Yuuma has a personal connection to Madrid as well — Real Madrid is his favourite team, and Lionel Messi is his favourite player.
Tabbaa trains with Yuuma around three times a week in their own time. Yuuma also plays with Yellowknife’s Galaxy Soccer Academy in the U15 league, with players up to five years older than him.
