Narrabri Junior Soccer will field two teams at the 2024 Rale Rasic Joeys Mini World Cup in Inverell, which gets underway today and runs through until Monday.
Narrabri will field an under-8s team and an under-10s team at the annual event, and three under-14 girls will also line up with another team in their own age group.
While Narrabri players have taken part in the event in the past, this is the first year the club has entered teams.
Each team that competes at the tournament is allocated a country that they play for during the Mini World Cup. The Narrabri under-8s will play as France and the Narrabri under-10s will play as Germany, while the trio of Narrabri girls, Sophie Michell, Kiara Vlahopoulos and Annalyse Hobson, will play in the all-female under-13/14s team that have been drawn to play as England.
The under-10s side’s campaign will start today when they challenge Argentina, which is an Inverell team. They have the bye in the second timeslot tomorrow and will then play two games on Saturday and three on Sunday.
The under-8s will play three games on Saturday and then three more on Sunday.
Narrabri Junior Soccer’s secretary Sam Lubke-Wood told The Courier that the youngsters were excited for the challenge, which will wrap up the 2024 season following the local club’s grand final day last Saturday.
“We have 21 players in the two teams and three girls who are going over as well independently,” Lubke-Wood said.
“This is the first year that we’ve sent teams to play in the Mini World Cup, which is really quite exciting.
“The interest was raised by parents and the club said they would support in any way.
“The kids are very excited. It’s like a soccer holiday and they are going to meet people from around the world.
“They are excited to learn new skills and play in a whole new dynamic.”
Publicity officer Cassey Treseder said that the youngsters were excited to learn which team they would play for and were thrilled with France and Germany.
