On a sunny Monday evening, it's a big match for Nigeria vs Zimbabwe as they battle it out for their place in a world tournament right in the city.
Communities from across Liverpool have come together for The World In One City, a football tournament which has captured the imagination of fans from many different backgrounds. The 16 qualified finalists are Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kurdistan, West Indies, England, Jamaica, Yemen, Congo, Somali Team, Libya, R.O.T.W (Rest Of The World), Iran, Bangladesh, Brazil, Guinea Bissau and Poland.
The tournament was created by "football crazy" Imad Ali, originally from Toxteth of Yemeni heritage, who wanted to bring communities together. On Monday, the ECHO went down to Jericho Lane Football and Fitness to watch a match, meet football managers and spectators and chat to Imad about why he created this tournament.
READ MORE: Mum made teen her 'sexual play thing' and had baby with him
The 33-year-old said he had this vision for around 10 years, he told the ECHO: "It's been a very long winded experience. If you ask anyone, I am football crazy person, very sociable, interact with all types of people and from a young age I have been fascinated by where people are from and their ethnic backgrounds and stuff like that.
"Me personally I am from Yemen and my dream was always to play for Yemen, but I was never good enough and neither were Yemen kind of thing. So we kind of brought the tournament to us.
"So with the links we've got, phoning round, I had a phone with about 500 contacts in and I phoned every single person 'where are you from?' And they would go 'oh my grandad is from Jamaica and I would put a list on my phone.
"As it started to come to fruition, we started to have squads, we got managers involved. We started to invest in things like the stand and DJ comes and helps out and the flags and stuff. We started last year and we didn't really anticipate, it was more just for us and our mates.
"But I think with the wide variety of people we had involved loads of people just bought into it. This is the second tournament we have had. This year we started exactly where we picked up from last year. I am living a dream if I am being honest, I really feel like."
Imad, who has funded the tournament himself with a team, said the players feel like they are representing their country who might not have a national team in the FIFA World Cup. He added: "It's just so rewarding, I can't explain to you how I feel walking out. The lads really take it seriously and believe they are playing for their country.
"The thing is you're looking at the likes of Zimbabwe and Kurdistan, they don't really have national teams. This is the closest they are getting towards representing their country and the spectators who come, they don't have a team. My dad never went to watch me play football ever, but because it is Yemen, he comes with his mates and comes and watches us play and everyone is involved."
Imad, who works for his family's organisation Active8, which provides accommodation and help for unaccompanied asylum seeking (refugee) children aged 16 to 18, said the tournament would not have happened without his team behind him.
He said: "I must say I don't want to take all the credit, the team I have got behind me, don't forget this is all voluntary and we fund it ourselves." Imad added: "It's not actually a big deal because we love what we're doing. Like some people spend £4,000 on a holiday we spend it on that [football]. It's just been amazing to be honest."
Just before the Nigeria and Zimbabwe teams come out to their national anthems. The ECHO caught up with spectator Michael Boyle, from Allerton, and manager of Nigeria, Earl Jenkins from Toxteth.
Michael said the tournament is a "great advertisement for the city" and praised the professionalism and organisation. He said he had been watching most matches and his sons have also been coming to watch.
Michael said: "It's great to watch and friendly. It's been run in a real professional manner I would say, there's nothing like this I would have seen."
Manager for Nigeria Earl Jenkins said "football is a universal language" and allows communities to come together. Speaking to the ECHO, he said: "What it means for me on a personal level is, I started a football club 25 years ago for the community, but we have only had one club and out of that club we have had people from different cultures and different backgrounds, we're a very multi-cultural team but we finish at 16.
"The most gone up to, we have had an adult football team a few seasons ago, but there is a void in adult play. We're well looked after with the kids. We have 15 teams and go from under 5s to 16s but the problem is when they get beyond 16 there is not many opportunities to play, there is not many opportunities to come together with people they have played in the past.
"It gives the community something else to focus on." He added: "Going back even further we used to have an event once a year, the carnival, and when we had the carnival people came together. You will probably see people today shaking hands with people they haven't seen in a while.
"I know it is a cliché but football is a universal language and it is bringing everybody back together. That is the idea behind it, it is just to get the community together and see everyone and everybody loves football and football mad."
Hundreds of spectators came to watch the Tuesday match, with cheers, shouts and clapping to support their teams. It ended in a draw of 1-1 to Nigeria vs Zimbabwe.
The match at 8.30pm between R.O.T.W (Rest Of The World) and Kurdistan ended in a big win to R.O.T.W, 6-0. To catch up on the latest results and highlights follow the World in One City's Instagram page world_in_one_city.
