16 teams from League of Ireland and Northern Ireland Football League to compete in Academy Development Day
The League of Ireland (LOI) and Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) are delighted to announce a new cross-border initiative for our respective Academy systems giving our Academy players a new opportunity to play against teams from either side of the border.
For the first time, eight Clubs each from the EA SPORTS LOI Academy and the NIFL Academy League will come together to participate in two Development Days in Dublin and Belfast.
The first event, which is for players born in 2008 & 2009, will take place in Dublin on Sunday, August 17, with the return day scheduled for Belfast on Sunday, August 31.
The Development Days follow on from events at MU14 and MU15 level so far for the EA SPORTS LOI Academy and the games will take place at FAI HQ in Abbotstown, Dublin and Queens University, Belfast.
From a League of Ireland perspective, the eight clubs that will participate are:
Athlone Town
Bohemians
Galway United
Treaty United
Shelbourne
St. Patrick’s Athletic
UCD
Waterford FC
The NIFL teams competing will be:
Cliftonville
Coleraine
Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon
Glentoran
Larne
Linfield
Portadown
Will Clarke, LOI Academy Programme Development Manager, said: “We’re very excited to launch this new initiative which has been developed in close collaboration with our colleagues in NIFL over the past number of months. The events will provide great opportunities for the best players from either side of the border to play against each other in two excellent environments for the first time. I’d like to thank everyone in NIFL and all the Clubs from both Leagues for their support in what will be a fantastic display of the best talents on the island of Ireland.”
Steven Mills, Chief Operating Officer at NIFL commented: ‘’Ourselves and our colleagues at LOI share the same ambition to further develop the Academy systems in our relative Leagues and clubs. We see this initial initiative as the start of a bigger programme with greater opportunity to for shared learning, development of better practice and the creation of best v best for our most talented players.’’
