Flu youth side to visit the Park
Exeter City are pleased to announce that a Fluminense Under-19 side will visit St James Park for a pre-season friendly on Monday 20th July 2015 (kick-off 7.30pm).The Flu U19 squad are travelling to Europe to defend their crown in the prestigious U19-Fußballturniers in Oberndorf, Germany. It is an annual invitational youth tournament for emerging talents at some of the world’s top clubs.
This year, Fluminense are the only non-European side to be entering, and they are aiming to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of consecutive victories after winning the tournament in 2013 and 2014. Accompanying Fluminense in the eight-team tournament are SC Freiburg, Inter Milan, Mainz 05, Schalke 04, Everton, Club Brugge, as well as Team Schwarzwald, a team of local talent from the Black Forest region.
But before the tournament begins in Germany on July 28th, the Flu youth side will first be our guests in Devon for a friendly fixture.
Fluminense have a pedigree in producing young talented players – current Under-19 players Gerson and Kenedy have already made appearances in the side’s first team as well as the Brazilian national youth set-up, and have been linked in recent weeks with moves to the likes of Chelsea, Man City, Juventus and Barcelona. Marcelo and Thiago Silva are just two alumni of Flu’s prolific youth set-up that have made themselves household names in football.
The fixture comes a year to the day after the Grecians faced a Flu U23 squad at Estádio das Laranjeiras, as Exeter commemorated 100 years of history with Brazil last summer.
Last year’s friendly in Rio de Janeiro was held to commemorate the centenary of the first ever fixture for the Brazilian national team, which took place at the same venue on July 21st 1914 – the Seleção were 2-0 winners in their inaugural fixture.
Exeter City and Fluminense Under-23 drew 0-0 in Brazil last year. In the hosts’ talented young side that day was midfielder Gerson, who reportedly has had clubs including Man City, Chelsea, Juventus and Barcelona vying for his signature in recent months.
And the Grecians are keenly anticipating the opportunity to return the hospitality by hosting a match against Flu and making our Brazilian friends very welcome here in Devon.
We hope that our supporters will turn out in their numbers for the game at St James Park to celebrate 101 years of history between Exeter City and Brazil.
Further details, including ticketing details, will be announced in due course. We will also be releasing further details of 2015/16 pre-season friendly fixtures, both home and away, during the coming weeks.