Trinity College Dublin and Dublin University Football Club alumni Dylan Connolly, Right-Back for Auckland City FC, and Ayman Ben Mohamed, Left-Back for Espérance de Tunis, competed against some of the world’s best football clubs in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Trinity boasts many renowned alumni who have come up through Trinity Sport, including Olympians, Paralympians, and professionals such as Aifric Keogh, Ronan Tynan, and Linda Djougang.
The FIFA Club World Cup is (now) a quadrennial competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Association Football Federation).
The cup features champions from each continent’s top club competitions, coming up through the UEFA (Europe), CONMEBOL (South America), Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean), AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), and OFC (Oceania). The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is currently being held in the United States and is composed of 32 teams from six continents.
The structure of the competition lends itself to smaller teams, allowing them to compete against some of the world’s most famous football clubs. This has also made for some major upsets, like Al-Hilal beating Manchester City 4-3 and Flamengo beating Chelsea 3-1. Notably, Auckland City FC, who are currently ranked 4,928th in the world (4,324 places below the next lowest team in the tournament), who came in the competition seated 32nd, tied the Argentine Boca Juniors (ranked 95th in the world and 16th in the tournament).
Commenting on Auckland FC’s success to the University Times, player Dylan Connolly stated “I never thought when I was playing in College Green a couple of years ago, that one day I’d be preparing to play against Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors. To get a draw against Boca in the final game was the icing on the cake to an unbelievable experience.” He added, “I’ve dreamt of playing at the highest level for my whole life, so being able to temporarily get a taste of it was unbelievable.”
When asked about his time at Trinity, Connolly called playing for DU Soccer “a major highlight.” Continuing “Getting to win the Harding cup as a fresher probably stands out the most.” Connolly was a Sports Scholar of the college, and said the distinction “played a part in my development and journey up until this point.” Connolly is now looking forward to “going back to New Zealand to continue working as a physiotherapist and playing football part-time. I’m looking forward to coming back to Ireland at Christmas time to visit all of my family and friends.”
Trinity alum Ayman Ben Mohamed, who played for DUAFC while studying business at Trinity represented Espérance Sportive de Tunis, which is Tunisia’s top club. Espérance played in Group D against Flamengo, Chelsea and Los Angeles FC (LAFC), defeating LAFC 1-0, and losing to Flamengo 2-0 and Chelsea 3-0, thus barely missing out on the knockout stages.
In an Instagram Post celebrating the success of the two men, Trinity Sport wrote “We’re Incredibly proud of Aymen and Dylan for representing Trinity and DUAFC on football’s biggest stage. Here’s to more Trinity talent making waves in global sport!”
