Sixteen (16) talented football players from Northern NSW, including Ederyn Rankin and Zacharie Hartley from Football Far North Coast, have been selected to compete in the Tokyo Under-14 International Youth Football Tournament to be held in Fukushima, Japan from 1 May 2020.
The competition, usually held in Tokyo, has been relocated to the newly reopened J Village, the National Training Centre in Fukushima for the first time in 2020.
The squad consists of young talented players from throughout the region who were selected based on their performance and development throughout 2019 and during a NNSWF Talent ID Camp held at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility, Speers Point in January.
Participation in the tournament serves to provide valuable international experience at the highest-level allowing players and coaching staff to benchmark their development against other talented players from across the world.
NNSWF Head of Football Development Peter Haynes, who will be travelling with the group, along with respected coaching and support team Neil Orr and Jonathon Newman, is looking forward to the opportunity it will bring for the players.
“We’ve attended the tournament for a number of years, it is a rare opportunity for talented players to compete against some of the largest clubs in world football such as Tottenham FC, Boca Juniors, Palmeiras FC and FC Tokyo,” Haynes said.
“Players who have represented Northern NSW Football at the tournament previously have gone on to play in the Young Socceroos squad as well as being picked up in National Premier Leagues First Grade teams,” said Haynes.
In 2020, the NNSWF squad come head-to-head against their international counterparts from Berlin, Cairo, Beijing, London, Jakarta, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Buenos Aires, just to name a few.
2020 NNSWF Squad List – U/14 Tokyo International Tournament
1. Ethan Lewis | Newcastle Olympic
2. Kalen Routley | Broadmeadow Magic
3. Lorcan McCallum | Newcastle Olympic
4. Giles Harrison | Newcastle Olympic
5. Ederyn Rankin |Football Far North Coast
6. Zacharie Hartley | Football Far North Coast
7. Cooper Vimpani | Broadmeadow Magic
8. Kai Herd | Broadmeadow Magic
9. Seth Anderson | Newcastle Olympic
10. Kynan Watkins | Broadmeadow Magic
11. Luka Magnery | Charlestown Azzurri
12. Caylan Law | Weston Bears
13. Charlie Stevenson | Newcastle Olympic
14. Cooper West | Football Mid North Coast
15. Rio Prieto | North Coast Football
16. Tane Carpenter | Edgeworth Eagles
