For several years, the Swindon Town Community Foundation has had the pleasure of participating in the Gothia Cup. This is the world’s largest international youth football tournament, with around 1700 teams from over 80 nations taking part. 

The tournament has been held since 1975, with over a million players taking part over the years. It has become a meeting place for the world’s youth, with players coming together through their love of football, irrespective of nationality, culture, religion or skin-colour.

We aim to take two teams each year: a team from our Elite Boys Programme, and a team from our Girls Centre of Excellence. 

Some of our proudest moments at the tournament have been our teams representing England in the opening ceremony on two occasions, and two of our players reading the oath in front of the crowd of over 50,000 people. Our greatest successes came with winning the B Plate twice, and last year our boys team reached the quarter finals, before losing out to a team from France. 

We are extremely happy to be able to offer players this opportunity to represent their home town, and their home nation, overseas, and it is a fixture that we look forward to with great anticipation each year.