Burnley going to the Milk Cup

Last updated : 25 March 2009 By Tony Scholes
Today we handed over £2,000 to our youth development team to help fund next season's youth team in the Northern Ireland tournament that has become one of, if not, the most prestigious youth tournament in European football.

Established in 1983, the competition is based at a number of venues in Northern Ireland. It has already attracted teams from 58 different countries world wide from every continent and some big clubs have taken part including Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton as well as clubs such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Benfica.

It was at this tournament that Burnley first spotted Kyle Lafferty, and he also featured in it again in 2006 for his country having left Burnley's training camp in Austria to take part. It's not just Burnley who find players there either, Manchester United signed Brazilian brothers Fabio and Rafael having seen them in the Milk Cup.

This year's tournament runs from 26th to 31st July and the draw will take place on Thursday 28th May.

We will bring you more details as and when they are available, but this is a real feather in the cap for our youth team to play in this tournament and it is brilliant news that Clarets Mad Youth Foundation have helped to make it possible.