On the heels of the FIFA World Cup, a tournament with similar international flair but at a local scale is bringing together soccer-loving players from around State College to crown a champion that gets bragging rights and a gold trophy.
This year is the first for the League of Nations, which consists of players from Centre Soccer Association’s adult recreation Premier League. The players are local residents, Penn State students and even former Penn State athletes.
The league members, donning jerseys of the national teams of Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy, start competition Jan. 8 in a group stage that will have each team playing each other team twice at the Nittany Valley Sports Centre. The group will determine seeding for semi-final matchups in February, and the championship will follow on Feb. 26. The winners will get to pass around the gold trophy among themselves until the next tournament in 2024.
The League of Nations was organized by Daniel Haverkos, a State College resident who sought a way to harness excitement for the World Cup locally by creating an international-themed event. Some tournament players hail from countries including Colombia, Guatemala, the United Kingdom, Russia, Afghanistan and more.
“My hope and vision for the League of Nations is to bring together the best players in State College to compete at the highest level while showcasing respect for all,” says Haverkos, who was a goalkeeper at the University of Richmond in the late 1990s and has been known to nail bicycle kicks in the adult league. “The way that players, coaches and refs, sponsors, media and friends, family and fans have rallied to build excitement leading into this inaugural season has exceeded all expectations so far.
“It’s been amazing to see the beautiful game embraced so wholeheartedly where football is typically defined by one of the best pigskin college programs in the nation.”
The captains drafted players late in 2022, and the teams are playing seven on seven, with plenty of time for the subs. There is no slide tackling allowed to keep it clean, fun and respectable.
Catalin Prbag is the captain for Team Argentina. He was born and raised in Romania and played through the youth academy for Steaua Bucharest, one of the country’s top teams. As a young adult, he played for a third-division club and tried out for a professional Bucharest side but did not make the team.
He continued playing with friends in his home country and has kept playing recreationally since he came to the United States in 2005. He is excited to play with other soccer-loving athletes who hail from all over the world and find themselves in State College like him. He expects to be a defender.
“It is making people come together for soccer,” says Prbag, who co-owns The Cove pizzeria in College Township with his wife.
Jacob Rieker, a Penn State graduate student, plays on the Argentina team as a goalkeeper. He grew up playing soccer, but a concussion during a high school game spelled the end of his competitive career. He was clearing a ball when a 220-pound striker kicked his head. He went to the hospital and doesn’t remember the incident (though he takes some solace in his team winning the game in his absence).
Nowadays, he is a doctoral candidate who is a year and a half from defending his dissertation in applied linguistics. Playing in a recreational league and being drafted for this event is a welcome respite from his studies. He is one of the few who play only as keepers. He even was a Golden Glove recipient in the Centre Soccer Association, an honor that goes to the best goalkeeper.
“This is my release,” he says.
Kenny Grabey, of Bellefonte, is the captain for Team Italy. He has been playing soccer since he was four years old, including two years at Penn State Hazleton, and as an adult, he plays in the Centre Soccer Association and coaches youth soccer.
On the pitch, he plays center back for the defense.
“It’s fun, it’s friendly. I like that, and it’s a lot better than sitting on the couch,” Grabey says.
Anna Belpedio is on Team Italy, too. She says the local recreation leagues have become her social group and a major way she stays active now that she is years removed from playing collegiate soccer at NCAA Division II Winona State in Minnesota.
She says she’s retired from playing goalkeeper—she wants to avoid diving and hitting the ground—and expects to play center midfield or as a forward attacker. She is looking forward to taking part in the first version of the tournament.
“I try to put in perspective, just get my teammates up and be in the best position I can be as a team player,” she says.
Otis Lyons, a junior journalism major at Penn State, is one of the youngest players in the adult leagues. He played varsity soccer in high school in California’s Bay Area but gave up the sport to attend Penn State.
A diehard soccer fan, he says he watches it on TV religiously and follows leagues around the world. “My Tuesdays and Wednesdays are consumed with soccer.”
His favorite teams are his hometown San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer, Germany’s Borussia Mönchengladbach and a team in Thailand that he stumbled upon with a friend.
After the break from the sport between high school and his first years at Penn State, Lyons is excited to be back on the field. He’s a central attacking midfielder—a position that creates goals through assists or scores goals—or an attacker.
Konstantin Guryev, a Penn State doctoral student in economics, started playing in the Premier League in 2021. He was a striker, captain and top goal scorer for his team in the Moscow State University system before he came to the United States.
He says soccer brings him peace, and he has been playing his whole life, from his childhood in Russia to his time at Penn State. In Russia, he was a dancer before he got into soccer, and he has also played table tennis, beach volleyball and badminton and competed in swimming and track and field. When the league starts in January, he’ll be ready.
“My true passion is any sport, and I hardly imagine I can live without it,” he says. T&G
Mike Dawson is a freelance writer who lives in College Township. This story appears in the January 2023 issue of Town&Gown.
