Nobody likes penalties, unless of course, you are the winner. Thankfully for Cardiff Bay Warriors, they beat Leicester Atletico after a very tense game in every way.
A late Warrior equaliser in the last two minutes took the game into extra time. Those 30 minutes couldn’t separate the sides and the game went to spot kicks with Warriors succeeding, sending their excited supporters of more than 200 spilling onto the Hertfordshire Town pitch celebrating this historic victory.
The new Cardiff stars went on to the prestigious Somali British Champions League final stages beating a host of teams throughout the UK and after fighting their way past defending champions Hilltop FC in London in the semi-final. They were 2-0 down but came back to win 9-8 on aggregate to progress to the Hertfordshire final.
The Warriors were formed in 2019 from Somali heritage largely from the Butetown and Grangetown communities in Cardiff. The Somali British Champions League is the UK’s most prestigious tournament for diaspora community teams like the Cardiff team. Team spokesman Ali Abdi said to Wales Online ”this is a huge achievement for the Somali community in Cardiff. They have donethemselves proud”. He added, “we have had the whole community behind us with thousands watching on the livestream and to see that level of support is brilliant. It is such an important win that will build confidence and inspire younger members. The team have become role models winning the UK Championship”.
Team manager Ahmed Noor told BBC Sport “winning this tournament feels unreal”. He conceded ”they never do it the easy way. I have aged 10 years but we have a motto in the team that we never give in to the end.
We are 100% about promoting our heritage and we try to inspire the youth in our community. It shows the power of sport is huge, it brings people together”.
Ali Abdi concluded “ It was an amazing day, the Warriors are back”.