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West Ham United will fly out to India at the end of May to take part in the 2023 Premier League Next Generation Cup, which will take place in Mumbai.
An U-19s squad featuring many of the players who won the FA Youth Cup and U-18 Premier League South division double will head across the globe next week to compete in the third edition of the tournament which the Hammers won on home soil last summer.
The ten-day tournament will begin on Wednesday, May 17 and end with the final on Friday, May 26, and will see the Irons joined in India by Premier League Academy sides from Everton FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers, as well as South African Premier Soccer League side FC Stellenbosch, who were crowned winners of the Midlands section of the competition in 2022.
Four Indian sides will also compete in the tournament, with Sudeva Delhi FC, ATK Mohun Bagan, Reliance Foundation Young Champs and Bengaluru FC emerging from the Reliance Foundation Development League, a rigorous qualifying campaign that saw over 300 matches take place in nine regions of the country.
Matches will take place at Reliance Corporate Park (RCP) in Mumbai, with the tournament returning to India for the first time since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020.
Last summer, the Irons secured a narrow 4-3 victory over Crystal Palace in the semifinal to set up a tie with rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the final. The U-19s produced a sensational performance against Spurs, winning 8-0 to win the London section of the tournament.
West Ham United Academy Manager Kenny Brown is delighted that the team will be making the trip to India.
“The Premier League Next Generation Cup will give our young players and staff a fantastic opportunity to travel to India and experience a different culture, whilst also playing in some very competitive fixtures,” Brown said.
“We’re all really excited to head out to India next week, we’re honoured to be representing West Ham United aboard, and we hope that it will be a very successful ten days.”
Further details on who the Young Hammers will face in the tournament, as well as how supporters can stay up to date with matches will be released in due course.
