BREAKING: After the groundbreaking experience at Viareggio Cup in Tuscany, the club announces that its younger age groups (2007 & 2004/3) will follow suit of their older counterparts, and will venture to Italy to participate in the Universal Youth Cup in 2019.
Now in its eighth edition, the Universal Youth Cup is the flagship event for the world's best youth players. The tournament has seen the participation from youth academies of many prestigious clubs over the years, including Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Fiorentina, Udinese, Sassuolo, Genoa, Sampdoria, Torino, Empoli, PSG, Liverpool, Sevilla, Ajax, Benfica, Chelsea, Zenith Saint Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow, as well as numerous amateur teams.
The “UYC” tournament takes place in Versilia over four days, during the Easter weekend (from 30 March to 3 April) and over the years, it has become one of the key football tournaments in the world.
Numbers are testament to this, with over 1,200 kids competing in the name of sport, beyond any language and racial barriers. The tournament, authorized by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), is made possible thanks to the contribution of the Municipality of Forte dei Marmi, who believed and invested in the event right from the start, the Municipality of Camaiore (LU), the Municipality of Pietrasanta (LU) and the Municipality of Montignoso (MS); these entities provide most of the world class sport facilities and actively collaborate to promote the tournament.
"Thanks to Viareggio, a very wide door has opened for the club and our players." exclaimed FA Euro Academy's Ferdinando de Matthaeis. "This tournament is a great opportunity for our younger talents to be scouted and gives them the chance to compete with the very best players around. An ongoing trend that we realized is that many scouts tend to look at younger players as they have a longer window of time for improvement and development."
The club will hold tryouts and will dedicate in finding the best youth talents in the country to make another statement on a global scale.