A TEAM of youngsters from Longniddry Villa FC are set to represent Scotland in a prestigious international tournament.

The youngsters, the club’s 2001s, will fly out to Oslo this weekend to represent their country in the Norway Cup.

The trip will be Longniddry Villa’s first overseas and has seen the youngsters undertake extensive fundraising to pay for their flights and accommodation.

A party of 17 players will be joined by three coaches and 20 fans, comprising committee members and the players’ families. 

Kind-hearted donations have helped raise more than £7,000 towards the trip and the club thanked all those involved in helping to raise the handsome total.

A trip to Norway for the competition, which runs until August 6, comes at the end of a successful season for the 2001s. 

Scott Cairns, team coach, told Courier Sport: “We are very excited about what we hope will be a very positive experience for the boys. 

“This will be a first for the club and as well as giving us the opportunity to play against teams from different countries, it will give the boys experience of different cultures and we hope they have fun and create memories that will last for a very long time.” 

Meanwhile, Brian Sandilands, who is involved with the club, explained how the invite came about.

He said: “We applied for a competition that was being run by Youth Scotland. We had to explain the ethos of our club and we were one of 17 teams chosen to represent Scotland. The teams going from Scotland are nine boys’ teams and eight girls’ teams. We are playing at the under-15/16 level and it will be difficult, as our team are all under 15, so we will be playing some teams a year older.”

After promotion from Division Two a year ago, Villa finished as runners-up in the top league while also reaching two cup finals. 

They also made the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup and the South East Region Cup. Now the youngsters cannot wait to show off their skills in the Norway Cup.