The Journey - From Sydney to Gothia Cup

The Australian club Sydney University SFC will return to Gothia Cup for the first time in 25 years, and for the first time with a girls team.

The girls from Sydney University SFC will travel 15 981 kilometers (9930 miles) from Sydney to Gothenburg to participate in Gothia Cup this summer. Meanwhile it will be winter in Australia and the teams' football season will be ongoing. They have to reschedule three league matches that they will miss while they are in Europe.

To fund the long trip from Australia the team will arrange raffles, BBQ's and bake sales at their home matches. As part of the team's preparations for Gothia Cup they will travel to London and play friendly matches against teams from London.

The girls who play in at the highest level in the New South Wales National Premier League for youth female teams were undefeated last season. They scored over 100 goals and only conceded 10 over the whole last season. This was the best performance of a girls youth team in over an entire season in their league. This year they aim for the trophy at Gothia Cup.

"The tournament has an amazing history and we plan to come and do our best. We’re confident of being competitive and would ultimately love to win the Gothia Cup!", - says the team leader Jonathan O'Hara.

In the year of 2000 Sydney University participated with a boys team in Gothia Cup, now 25 years later they are coming back with a girls team. Their plan is to send a G16 team each year moving forward.

Some fun facts about the club is that 17 female players, including Clare Hunt, Clare Wheeler and Courtney Hunt has played for the Matilda's, the Australian national team.