Kevin De Bruyne’s KDB Cup Goes Global In 2023

Back for its sixth iteration, Kevin De Bruyne’s KDB Cup goes global in 2023, with South African and Brazilian sides Mamelodi Sundowns and Palmeiras competing as the first-ever non-European sides.

Kevin De Bruyne’s passion project, the KDB Cup has fast been building a reputation as one of the best youth tournaments in the world, offering up a platform for some of the best under 15 players in the world to showcase their talent. This is evidenced by some of the competition's past participants: Jamal Musiala, Charles de Ketelaere, and Eric Garcia, not to mention current Golden Boy, and Barcelona and Spain star, Gavi.

This year, as a show of its rapid development and increasing reach, the KDB Cup is taking it up a level by going global, with Mamelodi Sundowns and Palmeiras competing as the first-ever non-European sides. “When I played youth tournaments, I never played teams from outside of Europe,” explained De Bruyne. “So to get a team from Brazil is a little bit crazy. I’m excited to watch them play.”

As part of the promotion and to evidence the increasing scale of the competition, Veo, who power the KDB Cup, recreated an iconic shot of Maradona with an inflatable globe, subbing the Argentine legend out for the Man City Maestro.

For Mamelodi Sundowns, it will be the first opportunity for many of the players to play outside of South Africa. “I think it will be a great experience for them not only to play football against other teams, but to see another part of the world and to have a life experience,” said De Bruyne. Sundowns will compete against a mix of global powerhouses and European and Belgian teams. This year’s draw also included Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Odense Boldklub, RB Leipzig, Manchester City, Ajax, PSG, KAA Gent, and Club Brugge.

While the tournament goes global, De Bruyne is also happy to see Belgian teams have the opportunity to compete. “I want the Belgian youth involved because competing against the top international clubs is good for them. And to be fair, there’s always a couple of Belgian teams who do well, so that’s good.” De Bruyne spent time coaching the Man City U14s while receiving his coaching badges and saw some players he coached to play in the tournament last year. “They had their best result. So maybe it was the coaching,” he joked.

Working with the KDB Cup, Veo equips teams with video and analytics after games as well as to enable friends, family, and fans to live-stream the tournament for free on the Veo Live App. The partnership between the KDB Cup and Veo was facilitated by Roc Nation Sports International and has already seen great results. Last year people from over 104 countries tuned in to see the next generation of stars at the KDB Cup on Veo Live, with over 50,000 viewers during the course of the weekend.

“It’s great having both sides of the video and analytics for the coaches and players there and the live-streaming so that people who cannot travel there can watch. I’m very excited, and I want the tournament to show the best version of itself…the rest speaks for itself.”