Three AFS Representative Teams departed from Melbourne International Airport this afternoon on their way to England.

The U15, U16 and U19 Representative teams will spend the next two weeks in Europe living their dream.  There will be a mixture of training with professional coaches, playing against quality European opposition, attending an EPL game in London, visiting the most famous stadiums in Europe and culminating in competing in one of the most prestigious international youth tournaments in the world.

42 players, 8 AFS staff and 37 supporters will be landing in London this evening.  After a long flight they will hit the ground running as they will visit Wembley stadium and look around London’s attractions.  After stretching their legs; the entire group will head off to Lilleshall situated near Birmingham, no time to rest as they will have their first training session in English soil, they’ll then have a nutritious meal before heading to bed for some much earned rest.

They will spend the remainder of the week in England enjoying different experiences, some of the highlights will be:

• Visiting Old Trafford home to Manchester United
• Playing against English club teams
• Training with professional coaches from Reading FC
• Attending the EPL fixture Chelsea v Aston Villa live at Stamford Bridge
• Visiting the Chelsea FC training grounds and playing against Chelsea FC academy teams

This will serve as great preparation as the teams will then head off to Barcelona to participate in the Mediterranean International Cup one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world for talented junior footballers.  Prior to the tournament the AFS teams will visit FC Barcelona’s home ground Nou Camp Stadium and will then have the pleasure of being trained by youth coaches from arguably the world’s most popular club.

In the tournament all three teams will have their work cut out as they will take on some world class teams.  The groups for the teams are as follows:

U19 Boys
Catalan National Team (Best players from FC Barcelona and Esplanyol)
Fundacion Marcet (Local Spanish Academy Team)
CE Cristinenc (Local club team from Barcelona region)
Australian Football Skool U19

U16 Boys
China National Team
Australian Football Skool U16
C AT Segre (Local team from Girona region)
Racing Sarria FC (local spanish team)

U15 Boys
Australian Football Skool U15
Hellerup IK (Danish first division team)
Torrellano Illice CF (Local team from Valencia)
Farners Selva (local team from Barcelona region)

A massive effort will be needed for the boys to progress onto the knock out stages, should they manage to get out of their group the will have the likes of the National teams from Brazil, Mexico, Egypt and China awaiting them, as well as powerhouse clubs such as FC Barcelona, Espanyol, Gamba Osaka, and Real Madrid to name a few.

You can follow their progress by following this link www.micfootball.com

It will be a fantastic opportunity for the teams to experience football in Europe and to see for themselves the standards that players their age from other parts of the world can reach and need to maintain.

You can keep an eye on the teams by following the online blog. Click here

It’s the first time AFS Rep Teams have visited Europe, this will be the 7th international tour organized by the AFS.  They have previously visited Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Brazil and New Zealand.

The next tour on the agenda for the AFS Rep Teams is the U12/U13 Boys and U15 Girls Traveling to the Disney International Cup to be held at the magestic venue of ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida, USA in July 2010.

More exciting tours will follow in 2011.