With the Fulham FC men’s First team’s remarkable success in reaching their first every Europa League Final in May, the Fulham FC Girls Centre of Excellence embarked on their second European excursion.
Off the back of the Fulham FC Girls Centre of Excellence (CoE) 2009 tour to Gotland, Sweden, the 2010 edition saw the Centre visit another Scandinavian country to compete in the Football Festival Denmark. The tournament took place in Denmark’s second largest city Aarhus from the 27th – 31st July. After careful consideration, Football Festival Denmark was chosen as the tournament that could provide the right competition for the players and, in line with the COE philosophy, allow them to learn, improve and develop in an environment that is unique compared to the usual week to week running COE program.
Three squads, thirty seven players and 10 staff travelled to Denmark with the Under 12’s competing in the G13 category, Under 14’s in the G15 and the Under 16’s playing in the G17 age group respectively. The tournament itself produced a wide range of emotions and challenges for each team to overcome; the U12’s produced some impressive results in their run to get to the G13 ‘A’ final and came up just short in the closing minutes of extra time in a very balanced encounter between 2 competitive teams. The U14’s reached the G15 ‘A’ final and beat AIK Stockholm of Sweden 1-0 to claim the trophy after a very controlled and mature performance from every player. The U16’s finished the tournament in 6th place out of 12 teams, which considering the knocks and injuries the players had to battle on with is a creditable finish.
The tours was a continuation of the Fulham FC Girls Centre of Excellence commitment to providing the best possible learning opportunities for the players and hopefully provide experiences that will help enhance their development and stay with them for a long time to come. These trips provide a real opportunity for the holistic development of each individual player, along with the matches and training sessions on the playing field the players had to learn to work together, socialise and bond off the field. All the staff would like to thank the players for their hard work and want the tour to be a great memory for each of them. The experience will hopefully inspire the players to focus their attention to improve further in their development as an elite female player.
A special thank you must go to the Centre Management team of Richard Gunney and Michelle Jeffcoate as without their tireless efforts to organise and co-ordinate the tour; it would not have been possible. Steve Day Fulham FC Foundation Chief Executive positively encouraged the organisation of this additional opportunity for the players as it meets a number of core values that are paramount to Fulham FC. Thanks must also go to Tom Shorey from Inspire Sport who helped organise the trip. Simon Stormer, Tim Chandler and Magnus Thell were also integral by supporting the trip financially through sponsorship.
If you would like to find out more about the Fulham FC Girls COE please contact the FFC Foundation
www.fulhamfc.com Tel - 0870 442 5432