Fleetwood Town have set out on their own Icelandic football mission this weekend. They have sent two academy coaches to the country to spend a week with the Club’s partner club, Stjarnan.
The aim of the visit is to strengthen the links between the two clubs and for the Cod Army’s coaches to deliver sessions at their summer camps.
Their wish to strengthen the link comes less than a week after the Icelandic national team knocked England out of the Euros.
Stjarnan have 900 children in their academy, all of whom have been recruited from their local area.
Their first team won the Icelandic top division in 2015, have played in the Champions League against teams such as Inter Milan
Former Icelandic international and now Fleetwood Town technical director Gretar Steinsson said: “The purpose of the visit is to gain and share Stjarnan’s fantastic youth development programme.
“They have produced a number of international footballers, some that featured against England last week for Iceland at the European Championships.”
“It’s no surprise to me to witness what happened last week. The club has done a fantastic job in producing young footballers.”
“We see a lot of similarities with Fleetwood Town. They work in a small community and with great success they have recruited, development and promote young talent. Likewise with our new Category three academy status we have been working hard for some time on a similar strategy.
“We want to recruit locally and predominantly players will be sourced from the Fylde Coast and nearby. We want to create the same ethos and give a real community feel to Fleetwood Town.”
CEO Steve Curwood added: “The chairman’s significant investment into the training ground is already reaping benefit. The process was underway a few months ago to get the infrastructure and player recruitment right for the academy. Building links like this one can only be a win-win situation for everyone concerned.”
