Academy team to compete in the 56th Champions Trophy
- Town Under-19s heading to Germany
- Mark Hudson to lead team in the Champions Trophy
- Comments from Academy Manager Leigh Bromby
Town’s Under-19 side will head to Germany in late March to compete in a prestigious youth tournament.
Town has been drawn in Group 1 alongside Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach; 2. Bundesliga team Fortuna Düsseldorf; 12-time Polish champions Legia Warsaw and Italian Serie A outfit U.S. Sassuolo Calcio.
The second group consists of Austrians RB Salzburg – the winners of the last four tournaments – Everton, Belgian giants Standard Liège, Bundesliga team SV Werder Bremen and a Japanese Select team.
The Terriers will play four qualification games of 25-minute halves before possible progression to the knockout games and the eventual final.
For more information on the Champions Trophy, click HERE.
Huddersfield Town’s Academy Manager Leigh Bromby commented:
“We’re delighted to be involved in this prestigious, high-level Under-19 tournament in Germany.
“The level of competition is exactly the level that we are looking for as we head forward with the Academy’s new strategy, with a myriad of top teams from across Europe and beyond taking part. Creating the correct, bespoke games programme to offer different challenges to our youngsters is very important.”
This tournament will mark the debut of Town’s newest age grouping, with the Academy set to move to Under-19 and Under-17 age teams at the start of the 2018/19 campaign.
Bromby explained:
“Moving the age groupings to Under-17s and Under-19s brings us in line with the rest of Europe, which will be helpful when it comes to arranging games for the older age group.
“We will also try and combat relative age effect by moving our age group determinations from the traditional Academic year, September to August, to the calendar year, January to December. Like most under-age teams, our recruitment has been drawn to young players born in the first quarter of the Academic year. This move will give them a new physical challenge as they will not be the most physically developed.
“Our Under-17s will compete in the U18 game programme and the Under-19s will play a bespoke fixture list against a mix of senior sides and fellow high-level Under-19 teams, with players going on loan or work experience spells to gain experience of senior football.
“It’s all about giving our young players different challenges that they have to overcome. In besting those tests, they will learn and improve.”