Faversham Town under-11s are heading to Sweden to represent England in the World Youth Cup in July in a six-day tournament involving 1,700 teams from 75 nations across the world.

The 12 Faversham Town boys, who are all in Year 6, have been cleared by education chiefs to take a week off school so they can play in a tournament previously graced by some of European football's biggest names, including Juventus and Italy star Andrea Pirlo and England legend Alan Shearer.

The youngsters fly out on Saturday, July 11, and will stay together in a sports pavilion on the edge of Gothenburg that has been hired as the team HQ and training centre as they prepare to compete against teams from Argentina to Zambia to Russia.

They raised the money for the trip with a sponsored bike ride and a raffle and will play in special short-sleeved souvenir shirts to cope with the heat.

First team coach Brian Flynn said it had taken two years to plan the trip.

Flynn, 44, said: “It will be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for the boys and their parents. This is part of what the club does to develop the boys both as footballers on the pitch and as individuals off it.

“The World Youth Cup is an incredible tournament – there’s nothing else to match it anywhere.

“The boys will play six games over six days and get the chance to compete against and mix with, boys from different cultures around the globe.

“Even if the boys never get the chance to lift the World Cup as an adult, they may just play against a lad who one day will.”

The opening ceremony will take place in front of 50,000 people at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg on Monday, July 13.