Campus Recreation will host the second annual World Cup Soccer Tournament on May 22.

It will be free and played six on six, with a maximum of eight players on each team.

The countries represented last year were Germany, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Spain, Ethiopia, USA, Mexico and Colombia, according to Campus Recreation.

The event is part of Eastern’s Diversity Week, which has events throughout campus from May 20 to the 23.

Those who join the World Cup will get to represent a country or culture of their choice, get a free T-shirt and enjoy music and food with their fellow Eagles, according to Director of Campus Recreation Mike Campitelli.

The tournament will mirror the FIFA World Cup. Teams will be paired against each other by the luck of the draw.

Intramural soccer is the fastest growing sport in the last five years, and it has more diverse players than any of the other intramural sports, according to Campitelli.

“We are not turning teams away,” said Campitelli. According to campus programs adviser Berto Cerrillo, students can sign up the day of the event as well.

The tournament requires that at least a minimum of two women or two men are on the field at all times. Teams also have an option to have one faculty or staff member on a team.

Currently at Eastern, there are over 500 international students, according to international student adviser Kara LaSota. Campitelli encourages all students to join the tournament, international or not.

According to junior and secondary education math major Eduardo Renteria Jr., last year’s teams represented whatever country they wanted to represent. For example, Asia University America Program students represented Japan and Renteria’s team represented Spain.

“It was a fun experience. It was cool to get a lot of people out [playing soccer] at the same time,” said alumnus Nick Patrick, whose team represented Kenya last year.

Students can sign up online as a team, but if a student needs a team they can contact Campitelli. Any student that wants to play can play.

“[Campus Recreation] did a good job of involving every single person who showed up with cleats that day. No one felt left out, everyone got to play and have a good time,” said Patrick.

According to Patrick, some players wore jerseys from the countries they were representing.

“Soccer is truly the world sport. [In] most of the countries other than the U.S., soccer is their biggest sport,” said Campetelli.

“[Soccer means to me] tradition, custom. I was raised with soccer. I’ve been playing since I was a kid with my aunts, uncles [and] my dad. It’s kind of in my blood. It’s always been with me. It’s competition, it’s fun, everything combined,” said Renteria.

The tournament is geared for students to show pride for their home countries, according to Cerrillo.

“Our whole thing is about having fun, giving students a chance to represent their country of origin or nationality,” said Campetelli.

Renteria’s favorite memory was winning and going undefeated with his teammates that had not all played together before. “It just goes to show that people can put aside their differences and do something good. It was fun,” said Renteria.

Patrick’s favorite memory of the game was playing good soccer. “When you get a lot of good soccer players, it’s fun to get a game like that. That’s what I enjoyed the most.”

The goal is to have a high-energy, fun atmosphere with music and food. “Whether people win or lose, for us, we just want the students to enjoy each other and hopefully on some level get to know each other better,” said Cerrillo.

For more information on the event go to http://www.ewu.edu/about/equal-opportunity-and-diversity/diversity-week/world-cup-soccer.xml