Kent’s Soccer Elite FA represented the county with pride on their recent tour to the Italian city of Milan.

Ten Soccer Elite FA teams took part in the Milano Football Festival and came up against teams from France, Norway, Germany, Spain and Italy. Teams included feeder sides to Italian giants Internazionale, AC Milan and Serie A champions-in-waiting Juventus.

All players did the Maidstone-based Academy, their watching families and themselves proud, performing superbly in all games and conducting themselves excellently both on and off the pitch throughout.

Notable highlights saw SEFA Magic Under 16s grab third place overall, while the SEFA Lightning Under 12s finished fourth in a pool of sixteen – but each player and team did sublimely against some illustrious opponents from across the continent.

Speaking after the tour had finished, SEFA Director of Coaching Lee Spiller said: “I am incredibly proud of each and every player who represented Soccer Elite FA on this tour.

“Entering high quality and high profile tournaments such as this is a key area of our player development philosophy. Of course it would be great to win trophies but overall the true winner is each player that will have got so much out of playing against some of the best young players around in one of world football’s great cities.

“The very different challenges posed in each game will do huge amounts for the development of each player as they return home, and indeed all of our coaches noted increased levels of game understanding and technical execution from their players as the games went on.

“The SEFA boys gave a great account of themselves and displayed they are more than capable of competing with individuals on the precipice of the full academies of Inter and AC Milan, as well as adapting to and dealing with new systems and styles of play, and showing great attitudes when decisions didn’t go their way.

“My thanks goes to the SEFA staff, player families and most importantly the players themselves for creating such a superb atmosphere and vibe both at the hotel and the venues. We hope you enjoyed the four days as much as we did and we look forward to seeing you all next year!”