In its ninth year, the 2011 Charlotte Soccer World Cup crowned Trinidad and Tobago the tournament champion Saturday afternoon after that team's 1-0 win against England.

In a bracket that started with 10 teams, Trinidad and Tobago worked its way through Turkey and Sweden before reaching the final round against England.

Charlotte World Cup organizer Jens Svennson said that in the qualifying round the weekend before, there were more than 34 countries represented, but only 10 made the final cut. Scotland and Sweden were the other semifinalists.

In the tournament's first year, the competition was between the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce and the German American Chamber of Commerce.

"If you come to Charlotte and you're trying to find friends that are sort of in the same position, the one thing you have in common is soccer," said Leif Lundberg, a tournament founder. "Jens and I were talking whether it might be a good idea to put something together, and we contacted the German American Chamber, and they liked it, and it's grown from there."

This year, the tournament was able to act as a fundraiser as well as a community event. Svennson said they raised $1,200 to donate to One7 Ministries.

"Hopefully next year we should be able to give twice as much," he said.

As the years went on, the tournament became more popular, bringing out Charlotte's soccer community.

"Soccer is huge in Charlotte, and we're trying to do everything possible with events like this to get people aware of the game," said Trinidad and Tobago captain Sheldon Hilaire.

Hilaire said he started his country's team after playing in 2005 with a Brazilian team. Tournament rules say teams don't have to be manned entirely by people from the team's country name. After one year with Brazil, Hilaire brought together people originally from Trinidad who had spread throughout the United States to play in the Charlotte World Cup.

"That first year we didn't have enough players in Charlotte, so I brought in a bunch of my buddies that I played nationally with, flew them in, got them into town, had them bring their families, and we made a nice weekend out of it," Hilaire said. "Every year after that, it's just gotten bigger and bigger, and we've gotten a lot of the Trinidadian community to come out."

England's Mark Pinch said he's been playing in the Charlotte World Cup for the past five years. He works for the Charlotte Soccer Academy, where he's involved in youth soccer.

"Soccer has always been a part of my life and always will be here in Charlotte," Pinch said. "This is a good chance for me to play, whereas normally I'm helping other kids play."

Pinch said every country has its own style of play and that it was cool to see how the different communities come together.

"You're playing for the pride of your country, even in a small Charlotte World Cup," he said. "It's good fun."