"At a time when Italy's victory at the World Cup in Germany continues to linger in the memory, this weekend will see the annual Wales International Soccer Tournament, better known to many enthusiasts as the "Ian Rush Tournament", open its doors to the public as the five-day contest commences with an opening ceremony at Aberystwyth Town's Park Avenue stadium.

Over two hundred teams are this year set to grace Blaendolau Fields as a competition that has in previous years seen the scintillating athleticism of Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard - all participants in this year's FIFA World Cup - gets under way.

As the sun sets over Aberystwyth on Sunday evening, local residents will join participating teams as they parade from the promenade to the Park Avenue turf. The opening match, an encounter that will see Aberystwyth's 1989 academy team take on Chilean professional outfit Universidad Catolica de Santiago, will immediately follow.

It has been twenty-two years since the first tournament was held, inaugurated purely as a community development initiative by the Development Board for Rural Wales. Played exclusively at Park Avenue in its first year, the tournament's growth and massive popularity meant a change of venue was soon required. The chosen location, Blaendolau Fields, continues to play host to the power and sophistication of teams from as far away as Mexico and Malta.

So where does Ian Rush fit into the story? Over the years, the tournament has had many high-profile visitors. The Ian Rush name arose when Nike, his sponsors at the time, agreed to him spending two days at the tournament each year. Many residents will still remember the unparalleled excitement as Rush arrived by helicopter at Blaendolau.

Rush's name undoubtedly increased the levels of both media exposure and popularity that the tournament enjoyed, last year climaxing in a 30-minute television documentary that was shown worldwide on Sky Sports and the Fox Sports Channel. The programme led to a huge increase in the number of overseas teams showing interest in the 2006 event, according to tournament director Iain Skewis.

The television cameras will once again roll in the hope of filming the world's precocious sporting talent. An unforgettable thirty seconds of the next Shevchenko (whose £31m transfer to Chelsea this summer has sent shockwaves through European football) will unquestionably mesmerise audiences around the globe. Shevchenko's not the only example. Tomas Rosicky's early footballing background is very similar. Rosicky, Arsenal's latest £7m midfield signing, was a pivotal figure for the Czech Republic last month in Germany, and one of several soon-to-be-famous participants in the Wales International Soccer Tournament in the 1990s. And then there's Michael Owen of course. This year's strikers will undoubtedly be aiming to shatter his long-standing goalscoring record at the event.

More than 200 teams are being fielded this year, with organisers expecting a record 4,500 people at Blaendolau fields on each day of the tournament. In addition, forty teams from Ceredigion alone will participate in this year's event, with what the Event Company (who will orchestrate this year's tournament) have described as "the strongest ever selection" of British teams taking part as well.

Five days of robust competition and sporting prowess will test both the character and physical ability of those taking part. The main message of the event, above everything else, is that participation far outweighs winning. US football journalist Paul Gardener once observed that 'f you can't enjoy yourself at the Ian Rush, you probably never will'".

Written by Matthew Walters from Newtown