Celtic’s development side interrupt their winter break to take part in the Mercedes Benz Junior Cup in Stuttgart this weekend.
Stevie Frail has taken a squad of 10 over to the 6-a-side tournament that Celtic have been regular guests at down the years.
Today the hoops kick off at 11.05 (Celtic Park time) against Fenerbahce followed by Borussia Monchengladbach at 12.37 and the final group match against 1899 Hoffenheim at 2.09.
The six-a-side game is very much a specialised event with teams having to make full use of the boards and rotating their squad.
With the Bundesliga closed for a short break six-a-side tournaments are popular across the whole country as supporters move indoors for the fast flowing variety of the game.
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The Mercedes-Benz event is one of the top tournaments and is now in it’s 25th season with five of last summer’s German World Cup winning squad- Manuel Neuer, Sami Khedira, Mesut Özil, Benedikt Höwedes and Christoph Kramer- having played in the event.
Celtic have selected a squad from their u-17 and u-18 pools with the emphasis very much on mobility and quick passing with Calum Waters and Paul McMullan having the most experience of playing in the Development side which signed off for the break with impressive wins over Sevco, Dundee United twice and Sunderland.
Should Celtic finish in the top two they will face Manchester United, Stuttgart or Schalke 04 tomorrow.
CELTIC SQUAD: Jordan Hart, Calum Waters, Jamie McCart, Fiacre Kelleher, Jack Breslin, Aidan McIlduff, Aidan Nesbitt, Paul McMullan, Regan Hendry, Mark Hill, Calvin Miller, Theo Archibald