Celtic youngsters are gearing up for SuperCupNI appearance

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic youngsters are gearing up to take part in an exciting and popular under-17 tournament in Northern Ireland next month.

The Young Hoops are taking part in the SuperCupNI Premier section for the first time ever. The competition was formerly known as the Northern Ireland Milk Cup, and began back in 1983.

It includes youth sides from all over the world, with teams from the likes of Spain, USA, Japan, Mexico, and Ghana to name just a few.

And the exciting venture will see Celtic come up against American side Global Premier Soccer, and French regulars Vendee and County Tyrone. The competition kicks off on Monday July 29th. All teams will be playing their matches on that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

The Premier section of the competition holds five groups of four teams. Each team plays the others in their group once. The four best top placed teams will then enter the final four. Finals night is on Friday August 2nd.

Matches will be played at 14 different venues across Northern Ireland. These include the likes of Ulster University, Coleraine Showgrounds, and Ballymena Showgrounds respectively.

A fine experience for the youngsters

What an opportunity this could prove to be for the under-17s at Parkhead. A chance to develop against different footballing cultures and styles isn’t something to be sniffed at. As it stands, Celtic will face sides from America and France in the group stages.

It’s also incredible to think that this is Celtic’s first appearance in the competition’s Premier section. The SuperCupNI also holds lower age groups for their competition too. These are called the Junior and Minor sections.

But it’s not the first time ever that Celtic have appeared in the tournament. They were part of an under-21 format three years ago back in 2016, when they lost out to Everton 1-0 in the final. They also played in an under-19 curtain-raiser against Manchester United in a one-off match.

The likes of Ewan Henderson and Jack Aitchison featured against United last year. It’s an extremely established and well-known youth competition, and the Hoops youngsters will hopefully take full advantage of it.