Football Tours to Thailand

The Bangkok International Youth Football Festival attracts top teams from ten Asian countries. This year, we entered our Senior Boys’ and Girls’ teams. With most other teams being clubs selecting the best players from all the schools in their city, we were aware that the standard would be high but knew that our players would benefit from playing against good teams, as well as enjoying going on an overseas tour.

We were especially keen to challenge our Girls’ team, who have been so dominant in Sri Lanka. Although they lost all but one game in their tournament in January, they were competitive in all the matches and only lost most by one goal. They learnt a lot from the experience and returned home having won the award for Sportsmanship. Captain Niara Wijeyasinghe said: ‘Playing in an international tournament truly tested our girls’ ability, which will unlock the full potential this team can achieve.’

Our Under 18 Boys’ team was able to compete against some very good teams, drawing three of their group matches and only losing one match by more than a single goal. Our Under 16 team won their final game, to record our only victory. Captain Ayaan Weerasooria said: ‘The Bangkok tour was an unforgettable experience for our Boys’ teams and let us test our skills against some great talent from around Asia’.

The tour was the final time a group of Upper 6 boys will play for the school, including Ayaan, goalkeeper Alwan Mausoom, Vidur Mirchandani and our top goal scorer in the tournament. Mohamed Ilaan. Several leave with medals from winning the Under-14 TISSL tournament in 2020 and finishing runners-up in the Under-18 tournament in 2023 and 2024, and last year’s Under-20 tournament.