Danoners 2018 World Cup kicks off

By Jim Cornall

- Last updated on GMT

Danone has its own World Cup taking place in June in Cannes, France.
Danone has its own World Cup taking place in June in Cannes, France.
While New Zealand might have narrowly missed out on the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the country had another chance at glory as Auckland hosted the 2018 Danoners World Cup Oceania tournament, which took place this weekend.

There will be teams from 58 countries from Danone’s global operations vying to make it through to the Danoners World Cup in Cannes, France, from June 23-24.

The first event featured 27 teams (and 173 Danone staff) from New Zealand and Australia.

Cyril Marniquet, operations director for Danone Early Life Nutrition, New Zealand, said since its inception in 1997, and the first biennial event in 1998, the Danoners World Cup has been a great success.

“Employees love the camaraderie it builds - they get to know each other, not just on the day but in the many training sessions in the lead up to tournaments,”​ Marniquet said.

“It promotes health and wellbeing while being a fun activity everyone can get involved in no matter what their role or where they’re based.”

More than 10,000 participants

The competition consists of national and regional tournaments and finally, the Danoners World Cup where the regional tournament winners vie for the global cup title.

The tournament consists of three categories: male, female and mixed. In total, around 10,000 Danoners will participate in the global tournament in 2018.

In the regional event, the men’s tournament was won by a team from Australia, with New Zealand squads taking the women’s and mixed titles.

With major footballing nations such as the US, the Netherlands and Italy not making the FIFA World Cup, it remains to be seen if Arjen Robben or Gianluigi Buffon will apply for work at Danone for a few weeks in June in the hopes of a World Cup winners’ medal…

Related topics Manufacturers Danone

Related news