The British teenager wows the judges with his skills to claim an incredible prize.
FC Barcelona’s virtuoso performance in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final in Rome had football fans across Europe talking, and earlier that day, six of the best young freestyle footballers around had their chance to flaunt their skills in the PlayStation FreeStylers grand final at the Fans Festival, close to the Coliseum.
The winner, Tom Follan of the United Kingdom, who competed against Italy’s Andryi Stetsula in the 13-14 year-old boys category, won the auspicious honour of carrying the ball onto the Stadio Olimpico pitch for the biggest game in European club football, later that day.
All finalists were given signed football shirts and two tickets to the match, while Rowan Pegler, Indi Cowie and Sara Ismail-Sutton won PLAYSTATION 3 systems for winning the 15-16 year-old boys, 13-14 year-old girls and 15-16 year-old girls categories respectively. Andryi Stetsula and Mario Atella were given PSP systems for finishing runners-up in their categories.
All of the performances were judged by an all-star panel of former Wimbledon and Liverpool defender John Scales, Italian freestyle footballer Gianluca Lombardi and Dan Magness, who entered the Guinness Book of World Records in May 2009 when, incredibly, he juggled a football for 24 hours in London’s Covent Garden.
Congratulations to all of the winners; check out their entry videos and footage from the final at youtube.com/psfreestylers. Also, look for more competitions at eu.playstation.com.
