The Matamata Swifts U-19 side has completed preparations for the 2016 Lotto U-19 Youth tournament. Held in Napier over Labour Weekend, this tournament is one of the highlights on the club footballing calendar.

This is the sixth year in a row, and seventh time in all, that we’ve sent a side to this tournament. We’ve finished runners-up in our group, which is part of the Satellite tournament, in three of our six previous appearances and third in our group twice.

Prior to this year only the four group winners made it to the knock-out stages. In the last three years the winner of our group has gone on to win the Satellite tournament. With Onehunga Sports in our group this year we expect this trend to continue. This year the top two in each group go through to the knock-out stages, however, meaning we have probably our best ever chance to progress from the group phase.

You can follow the Swifts U-19s performances on our Facebook page.

Our group schedule

Saturday: 10am v Port Hill United, 1pm v Franklin United, 5pm v Papakura City. Sunday: 9.30am v Onehunga Sports, 12.30pm v Wainuiomata.