Fr Ragheed Ganni Soccer Tournament

Posted on 06. Nov, 2014 in Carousel

Action from this year’s Fr Ragheed Ganni Memorial Soccer Tournament.

The Fr Ragheed Ganni Memorial Soccer Tournament took place at the Irish College, Rome on Saturday, 8th November 2014. The annual tournament is dedicated to Fr Ragheed, who was an Irish College alumnus who was martyred for his faith in Iraq in 2007. Ragheed came here to the Irish College in 1996 as a seminarian and was ordained priest in 2001. He stayed on in this college as a postgraduate priest until 2003 when he returned to Iraq. During his years in the Irish College, he played on the College soccer team, and so this tournament, the Fr Ragheed Ganni Cup was established in his memory.

Six teams took part, representing the Irish College, English College, Marist College, North American College, Beda College, and Scots College. An important feature of the Fr Ragheed Ganni Memorial Soccer Tournament is that it concludes with all the participants celebrating Vespers in the College Chapel. Fr Ragheed Ganni celebrated his first Mass as a Priest in this Chapel, and he is now depicted in the apse mosaic, carrying the martyrs’ palm branch.

For photographs of the day, click here.