SWINDON Town Football in the Community Trust are setting off to compete in the prestigious Gothia Cup on Sunday.

This is the biggest youth tournament in the world with over 1,600 teams from 80 different nations taking part in the event. This year, Swindon Town FITC are entering five teams to the Gothia Cup which includes two boys and three girls teams.

Representing Swindon this year for the girls are the under 14s, under 15s and under 16s while the boys competing are the under 14s and under 16s.

This will be the 10th year that Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust have taken part in the Gothia Cup and will include a very special moment for one of their players.

Swindon’s Lauren Doble has been chosen to take a leading part in the Gothia Cup’s Opening Ceremony on Monday evening in her role as England’s representative. Lauren will read out the Gothia Cup Oath in front of 50,000 spectators before officially announcing the Gothia Cup 2016 open.

Trust manager Jon Holloway said: “The Gothia Cup week is a unique experience that will make life long memories for all our players.

“Meeting and playing against teams from all around the world is a valuable experience for the football education of our young players.

“All our teams have been training hard in the build up to the tournament and the excitement and anticipation has certainly been growing.

“We have 78 players, 14 staff and more than 60 family members travelling out to Sweden next week and I know our players will represent our club with pride and passion.”

You can follow the Swindon Town FITC teams at the Gothia Cup at www.gothiacup.se/eng/ or www.facebook.com/stfitc.