Diplomacy Wins at the World Languages and Cultures International Soccer Tournament

Students of Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Korean recently competed in the annual World Languages and Cultures International Soccer Tournament. The display of international sporting collegiality was a fitting tribute to the recent lighting of the torch for the 2024 Olympic Games.

In a round robin competition of back-to-back fast-paced 15-minute games, each team had a chance to challenge each of the three other teams. A final round had the Chinese-Japanese-Korean team, coached by Chinese Professor Dr. Wing Shan Ho, facing off against the Arabic team for third place, while the German team challenged the French and Italian team.

Coordinated by German professor Dr. Thomas Herold and German Club Secretary Lydia Schlegel, who played professionally in Germany before becoming a student at Montclair State University, the tournament brings together all of the World Languages and Cultures faculty and their students of all levels, the only requirement for competition being that students must currently be in a World Languages and Cultures course. Most students are able to count the activity as part of community engagement points required for their courses.

This second annual tournament is developing a tradition of sportsmanship, diplomacy, dialogue, and high-level play. Professor Mazooz Sehwail, of the Montclair State University Arabic program, officiated the game firmly, encouraging students to balance serious competition with fairness, issuing a yellow card as needed for overly aggressive play, and making quick transitions among games.

Student and faculty fans from across the languages lined the sidelines, carrying flags, sharing snacks, sharing ideas to practice their languages over the summer, practicing the longest words in the German language for an upcoming talent show, and discussing the use of diacritical marks in Arabic and writing systems in Japanese. Students learned to cheer in their respective languages, with “Yalla! Yalla!” and “Allez! Allez!” mixing among the sound of the whistle and of the players’ passes on the field.

In the end, it was international teamwork that won the day (as at the first modern Olympics of 1896 where players of different nationalities participated on the same teams). With help from Italian players and a student of Japanese recruited as a star goalie at the last minute, the French team took home the trophy. Coach Dr. Daniel Mengara held the cup high among cheers of “On a gagné! On a gagné!” chanted by fellow French faculty and students.

Other students exchanged contact info for future meetups and slowly left the field, vowing to return to try their luck again. In the meantime, proud Dr. Mengara will be in possession of the trophy until teams from all languages face off again next year.