The youth nursery of Qormi FC have linked up with the academy of English giants Liverpool to organise an international football camp in Malta.
Around 185 children, aged five to 14, have jumped at the opportunity to train under the guidance of the Liverpool Academy coaches, led by head coach David Ridler, between today and Thursday. One session will be held in Gozo on Saturday.
“It’s a great pleasure to be here and bring the Liverpool Academy coaches with us,” Ridler told a news conference yesterday.
“It’s a good opportunity to work with the children because that’s what we enjoy doing. We’ve come to the country to give kids the opportunity to learn some new things and have a little bit of fun.”
At the end of the training stage, the Liverpool Academy coaches will select the two most promising youngsters who will be invited to take part in a training camp in Kirkby.
Ridler acknowledged that the International Soccer School is also a tool for Liverpool to expand their scouting network.
“If there are talented children who we think have got a chance of making the grade, we’ll try to help them go down the right avenues,” Ridler said.
“We will give the club’s scouts a report to have a look at.”
Frank Skelly, an old-time Liverpool scout who has been to Malta several times, believes that our youth players are on a par with their European peers.
“The quality of the Maltese players, those aged 15 to 16, is equitable to anything I’ve seen on the European scene,” Skelly said.
“But, at that age, they need to be playing against better players to keep improving, maybe as part of a Malta team. They need to take part in international tournaments. This is what the likes of Ajax are doing to develop their young players.
“When we were here a few years back, we observed two or three young lads who were very promising. If they had been living in Liverpool, I’d have been knocking on their door to come to our club.
“I intend to monitor their progress in the next few days.”
Apart from the seven-strong Liverpool coaching team, Stephen Azzopardi, head coach of Qormi FC and technical director of the nursery, Stephen D’Amato, the club’s technical advisor, and the Qormi youth coaches will also be involved in the training camp.
This initiative materialised thanks to the efforts of the Liverpool Supporters Club Malta (LSC) as well as the Gozo branch, the Qormi youth nursery and the Liverpool FC Academy.
James Vella, LSC general secretary, said the objective of Liverpool’s International Soccer School is to build partnerships with other countries by providing training sessions to children the world over by professional coaches of the highest level.
“The Liverpool Supporters Club are proud to have become one of the recent partners of Liverpool FC in this project,” Vella said.
“We are following in the footsteps of countries like Norway, Greece, Cyprus, USA, England, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, France and Poland.”
Victor Camilleri, from the Qormi Youth nursery, said: “This training camp is the first step towards building a stronger relationship with one of the best youth academies in the world.”