Liverpool hosts the first nationwide ethnic football tournament this weekend with a grand send off from local legends John Barnes and Howard Gayle. Sixty teams are taking part in the all day AsiaEurope Football Festival on Sunday and each team will have the opportunity to benefit from free coaching by Everton and Liverpool. Gayle, who played at Anfield in the 70's and Birmingham in the 80's, has submitted his own junior team - Stanley House FC - and Barnes will be there to present the trophies.

Barnes said: ''Britain is a multi-cultural society and football is our national sport. Yet there is still a desperate lack of ethnic people involved at the games top level be it players or administrators. I'm delighted to see people are trying to tackle this and create an environment where we can expect to see Asian and ethnic role models within the near future. This tournament has my full support and I wish it every success.''

The festival will showcase the best ethnic players in the UK and has already attracted the interest of scouts from every Premier League club as well as European giants Real Madrid.

Organisers have invited the winners of every mini-Asian tournament in the UK to compete for what will be the first recognised national trophy. The event is supported by UEFA, Kick Racism Out Campaign, the FA and Premier League, Liverpool city council as well as football clubs - Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City and United.

Festival Director Majid Lavji, said: ''We are still waiting for Asian Footballers to make the impact that black footballers have made since the early 70's. This festival is an ideal opportunity to open doors and we have been overwhelmed by the support we have received within the game, in Liverpool and from national bodies such as Sport England. The signs are very encouraging that the event will be a big success and hopefully lead to that breakthrough at the highest level of the game.''

Less than three months after launching the event the organisers have been inundated with help to expand ethnic participation in sport, such as establishing three regional under-16s football programmes in the North, Midlands and London with a Champions final in Liverpool next summer.

Also in the pipeline are:

· Sport England courses in coaching, managing and refereeing for ethnic minorities

· Tours to football grounds to give ethnic communities a look at behind the scenes running of a football club

· The establishing an Asian Cricket Festival in Liverpool

Liverpool city council is co-supporting the event, which will be held at the Heron Eccles playing field in the Allerton area of the city. The Tournament, which starts at 9.30am, will follow the format of heats in the morning and finals in the afternoon.

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