On separate trips, the Edmonton Internazionale U-14 team and the Green and Gold Academy U-16s will take their game to the next level against international opponents.

Edmonton’s Inter U-14s are the only non-professionals playing in the Torneo Daniele Pecci tournament in Bellaria, Italy, April 1-5.

“We’re really excited about it,” said parent volunteer Claudio Gonzalez. “These kids have worked quite hard and they’re going to be seeing some heavy-duty talent over in Italy.

“When they go over there, they are going to play professional squad academies that have been scouted from basically all of Europe.”

Italian powerhouse

Featuring top-level European soccer club academies, the competition has grouped Inter with Italian powerhouse Juventus F.C.’s U-14s, and also features Italian clubs such as Atalanta Calcio, Brescia Calcia and Chievo Verona, along with F.C. Lugano from Switzerland, TuS Koblenz from Germany and F.C. Alderschot from England.

The tour will include friendlies against Juventus, Turin and identification camps with Juventus F.C. coaches at the club’s training facilities.

“We’ve participated in going on trips before, but it’s just been like a weekend tournament in Saskatoon, kind of thing,” said Gonzalez. “So for them the biggest challenge is this will be the first time away from their parents. We do have some parents coming along as support staff.

“We’re almost more excited than they are at this point because they really don’t know what’s coming ahead of them.”

While Inter is preparing for their tournament, the Green and Gold U-16s will travel to Florence, Italy, March 25 to April 5, where they will train at Coverciano — home of the reigning World Cup champion Italian national team — as well as FiesoleCaldine, where the A.C. Fiorentina junior teams train.

‘Their heartland’

“Apparently Florence is their heartland because that’s where the national team has their headquarters,” said academy director and U of A Golden Bears head coach Len Vickery. “They even have like our Hockey Hall of Fame, the Italian Soccer Federation has their Hall of Fame, soccer-wise in Florence.”

They have matches lined up against Italy’s premier academy squads of A.C.F. Fiorentina, F.C.G. Floria, A.C. Fucecchio and S.S. Lazio. On March 28, the Green and Gold is invited to a Serie A match between Fiorentina and Udinese, as well as a Lazio-Napoli derby game on April 3 in Rome.

“This is the kind of thing we’ve been doing for the last 10 years,” said Vickery, who has travelled with groups to Spain as well as his native England. “It’s easy for me in England because I have some close friends who are part of the professional game ... this is a little bit of a departure by going to Italy.

“It will be nice to see another part of the world, but also a slightly different approach to developing young players.”

Former Green and Gold academy members Eddy Sidra and Shaun Saiko have gone on to play professionally in Germany and England, respectively, while a handful of others have been part of the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program.