BUDDING young footballers from Dumfries and Galloway will test their skills against some of the top youth teams from Bulgaria and Italy at an overseas tournament this weekend.
Twenty youngsters from LittleTekkers Football Academy, and three coaches, are jetting off to Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, for a jam-packed weekend of fixtures at the Boyana National Football Base.
They will stay at the Bulgarian National Team’s hotel at the complex, while competing in games across Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday evening they have a friendly match arranged with the youth section of Bulgarian football giants CSKA Sofia.
The whole thing came about very quickly after a football agent friend of LittleTekkers founder and head coach Bryan Gilfillan got in touch a couple of weeks ago.
Gilfillan, who will be joined by coaches Sam Graham and Grant Fraser in the Balkans nation, said: “(The agent and I) have always kept in touch and meet up now and again. He dropped me a message saying – would we fancy this opportunity?
“We fly from Edinburgh on Friday morning, we arrive in Sofia at 11 am and our first game is at 3 pm.
“We are away to Inverness the following week for friendlies against St Johnstone, Inverness Caley and Ross County!
“(But this) will give them a different life experience. When I was their age I went away and I still remember every trip like it was yesterday. That life experience will be great for them. It’s something that doesn’t come along very often.”
Former professional footballer Gilfillan started LittleTekkers seven years ago at a pitch based on a farm near Brydekirk.
One-on-one sessions soon turned into small groups which developed into fully fledged teams at different age groups. Now there are around 60 kids from across the region training each week, with ten professional coaches providing sessions covering all aspects of the game, for all abilities.
You can find out more about the academy on Facebook or by emailing [email protected]
Thanks are expressed to the parents for helping to get everything sorted with such short notice.
