Isle of Man Football Association’s Centre of Excellence under-13 squad will take on teams from Everton and West Bromwich Albion’s academies over the Easter weekend.
First up for the Manx on their mini tour to England is Everton at the Premier League club’s Finch Farm training complex on Easter Friday, April 3.
The following day the island contingent travel south to Shrewsbury to take on a side from West Bromwich Albion’s academy.
The Manx round off the trip with a game against Welsh outfit Flint Town on Easter Sunday.
The Everton game came about after the Toffees’ under-sevens successful visit to the Bowl last month, while the WBA fixture has been arranged thanks to the friendships made when the Manx boys played in a competition in the UK a couple of years back.
The Flint Town match is a re-match of a summer friendly that took place at the Bowl last July when Flint enjoyed a trip to our shores..
Lead coach Michael Fitzmaurice explained: ‘It’s a great opportunity for the our boys to go showcase their talents and test themselves against other players who are in professional academies.
‘They have all worked really hard over the past seven months building towards this trip and we are really looking forward to it.
‘These games are also about building relationships with clubs across the water in the hope that one day we can get some of our boys playing over there at a higher level than they currently do.’
He went on to add: ‘We would like to thank our sponsors Equiom Solutions for providing our match kit, Brian Convery at the Isle of Man Stream Packet for his help with the travel arrangements and also Lee Dixon for helping organise the Everton match.’
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