RANGERS Girls Academy travelled to Mallorca, Spain last week to take part in the East Mallorca Girls Cup 2024.
Amongst the competition for the weekend included former winners FC Barcelona, and other high quality Spanish opposition in Real Madrid, Madrid CFF, and Atletico Madrid.
The young Gers were drawn in a group alongside Madrid CFF, B.93, Kolbotn IL and Sydney All Stars. After finishing second with seven points they progressed to a ‘Plate Pathway’ semi-final where they exited the competition against a powerful FC Nordsjaelland of Denmark team.
Girls Academy Manager, Todd Lumsden commented: “We are delighted to provide this opportunity to this hybrid age group.
“International travel and competition have only been a possibility for those players involved at the national team level in the past, and so as a club, ensuring that new challenges and exposure to different styles of play is critical to all of these young players’ development.
“We faced a range of competition throughout the weekend and learned a lot from being of the event.
“The players were a credit to the club and their families, and we hope to provide more opportunities at this level as a regular feature of our program.”
Women’s and Girls’ Managing Director, Donald Gillies added: “Pushing forward the quality and depth of challenge for the players within the Academy is a critical piece of not only supporting Jo Potter’s first team with players ready to make that jump when the time comes but enhancing the understanding of young Scottish talent that the levels of play in Europe and throughout the world continue to take huge strides.
“Watching FC Barcelona and Chelsea contest the final of the Under-16s age group was a tremendous education in what we believe needs to be the development goals for our players, not only in physicality, but in technical mastery.
“The coaching staff did a tremendous job of delivering such a high-quality trip, and I look forward to seeing how these players grow at the club.”