A FOOTBALL World Cup with a difference due to kick off next month when teams representing countries from around the globe compete for the Wilton Cup.

Workers from the Wilton International site are set to clash in a keenly contested 7-a-side international football tournament on Friday, July 11 in Dormanstown, near Redcar.

And just like the competition currently underway in Brazil, the eyes of the world will be watching.

The Wilton Cup is based on the celebrated Fleck Trophy, fought over for decades by teams of ICI workers on the site and revived two years ago by current employees.

But today the main site companies - SABIC UK Petrochemicals, Lotte Chemical, CropEnergies Ensus, Sembcorp Utilities UK and Huntsman Polyurethanes – are owned by firms from as far afield as Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Germany, Singapore and the USA respectively.

Site spokesman Terry Waldron said: “It’s like a mini World Cup but in our case the results will be eagerly awaited by bosses from Seoul to Salt Lake City, Singapore to Mannheim and Riyadh.”

The tournament is expected to raise up to £1,000 to be split between Dormanstown Junior Football Club - looking to develop unused land close to the site as a sporting and social facility for the community - and Dormanstown Primary Academy.

The Dormanstown club, which is temporarily using facilities at the Academy, is aiming to get the bulk of the money it needs for the project from Sport England.