Australia's Finest Young Female Football Talent Ga

With female participation rates in Australian football continuing to grow rapidly, the cream of young talent will gather this week in Sydney for the Qantas National Youth Championships (NYC) for girls.

With female participation rates in Australian football continuing to grow rapidly, the cream of young talent will gather this week in Sydney for the Qantas National Youth Championships (NYC) for girls.    Players this year will compete in the Under 18 and Under 16 age groups in the week-long tournament each representing their respective State, Territory or region.  The tournament, which will be played at Valentine Sports Park, the home of Soccer NSW, will commence on Saturday 2 July and conclude with the final day of competition on Saturday 9 July. 

The tournament allows for players to be identified for national team or elite State programs with current Qantas Matildas Sally Shipard of NSW and Queensland's Kim Carroll being just two players that have appeared in recent tournaments.  Carroll (pictured above right) will again be appearing at this year's tournament along with a number of Qantas Young Matildas - Alannah Reed, Nicole Somi, Alison Logue, Danielle Brogan and Caitlin Cooper to name a few.    FIFA President Sepp Blatter declaration that the ‘the future of football is feminine- has been reflected in Australia where the number of registered players has more than doubled in the last decade.  FIFA's confirmation this week of the establishment of an U-17 Women's World Championship due to commence in 2008, combined with the U-20 Women's World Championship, adds even more importance to the NYC.    “The Qantas National Youth Championship has long been an integral part of the development pathway for young players, and the announcement of a FIFA under 17 World Championship adds even more significance to the tournament,” said National Women-s Coach Tom Sermanni.    “This is an exciting time for the game in this country and with the number of registered female players increasing rapidly each year, the quantity of talented players on display at each tournament continues to grow.”      Sermanni and newly appointed Qantas Young Matildas coach Alistair Edwards will be just two of a group of coaches from Australia-wide attending throughout the week that will form part of the Technical Study Group.

All players competing at the tournament will be eligible for the Young Matildas team that will compete for a berth at next year's FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship to be held in Russia.  The tournament having been previously been a U-19 tournament.     The U-18 tournament will feature teams representing Australian Capital Territory, NSW Metropolitan, NSW Country, Northern NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia.  The U-16 tournament will comprise the same teams with the addition of Northern Territory and Tasmania.

The Qantas National Youth Championships for boys will be held in October.

Sydney's wet weather has forced the rescheduling of the U-18 matches with Saturday's match being moved to Jenson Park and Sunday's to Marconi Stadium.  This weekend's U-16 matches will still be played at Valentine Sports Park on alternate fields.

Please use the following link for more fixture information:

http://www.soccernsw.com.au/steams/htstart.cl?PT=af&lvl=3&menuItemID=705 A daily results service will be distributed each evening following the final match.