A former Bury FC youth team footballer may be given the chance to line up against Brazilian superstar Neymar in a mini tournament in Qatar.

Adam Dawson, 29, will be heading to the middle east later this month after being one of seven players picked to play for a side in the Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five finals.

The competition is sponsored and hosted by Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar - who has scored 71 goals in 117 games for his country - as well as energy drink giant Red Bull.

Adam, who has played for a host of Football League clubs in his career, may come face to face with the former Barcelona ace if his side manage to progress further than other teams.

Bury Times:

Adam in action for different clubs he has played for

Bury Times:

Brazilian star Neymar celebrates

The tournament is unique as there are no goalkeepers and every time a team scores an opposing player is eliminated.

Matches last for 10 minutes, or until one team loses all its players.

Speaking about the selection process, Adam said: “There’s a selection phase so on their social medias they announce it and it’s a hashtag called #outplaythemall and you have to upload a 60-second reel on Instagram of all your football skills.

“They then narrow it down over four or five months and then they select seven from the world to represent Neymar and Red Bull from hundreds of thousands of applicants who sent in their videos.

“Luckily enough I was one of the seven selected and the only one from the UK.

"Others chosen are from the Philippines, Bahrain and other countries as well.

"It’s really difficult to get into, I applied last year but I think my entry was late but it’s all sponsored, and all paid for.”

Adam’s video was picked up by some big names in the football world including the Brazilian futsal player Falcão, who is one of his biggest inspirations, shared it, along with Séan Garnier, a Red Bull athlete and French freestyle footballer who has more than 5m Instagram followers.

Bury Times:

Adam during a coaching session

Adam said: “The reason why I wanted to share the story is because my situation in football was that I was sold to Liverpool at 14 from Bury for £100,000 with the expectation that I would go on to do big things.

“I ended up having a decent career in the lower leagues, but I stepped out of it due to Covid just because there was always something missing in football that I missed when I was playing futsal or for five a side in terms of all the crazy skills you can do that you can’t really do on a football pitch.

“People always used to put futsal down but now it’s being shown on BT Sport every Sunday here in the UK and what I want to do is send out a message with me being from Bury.

"I want to say to footballers who get released at 16 and 17 and think football is over and finished that it’s not, there’s another route, there’s futsal, speed soccer, you can have fun and enjoy yourself and create videos online.

“Me just being a Bury lad to be selected out of seven in the world is a big thing.”

Bury Times:

Adam during a coaching session

Adam said he has been working hard for two years posting content and trying to inspire young kids and to show young people that there are different career options.

There are other routes and directions young people can take and they can have a passion for football, but it doesn’t mean they have to be an elite or pro footballer, Adam said.

He added: “Also, street football for me was massive, it’s where every kid learns how to play football and there’s no pressure and no rules and no-one is judging you, you just learn the craft with the ball and learn how to be a footballer and express yourself.

“So, what I will be doing in the future is getting the communities together in Bury and I will host street events and tournaments for certain age groups and just try and make this a thing in the Bury area.

“I go to Qatar on May 21 to the 25th. This is something I’ve been working towards for two years and I always thought I was never getting anywhere with it but because I love doing what I do I just kept going with it and obviously it’s all paid off, so hopefully a lot of stuff can come off the back of it as well.”