England MU15s head to FIFA U15 World Cup

The England squad for the FIFA U15 World Cup and Festival in Azerbaijan has been named ahead of the tournament in late October.

This is the inaugural competition and features 191 national teams, consisting of more than 3000 players, coaches and officials, who will be hosted at the custom-built Hovsan Competition Complex in Baku.

Matches at the competition are eight-a-side, with two halves of 20 minutes, which means there’s going to be plenty of action over the course of the week.

The Young Lions have been drawn out in Group C alongside Cambodia, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.

Following the group qualification stage, which starts on Saturday 24 October, the competition then progresses into its tournament phase with another four to five matches for those nations involved before the final games take place on Friday 30 October.

Head coach Matt Thorpe has named a 14-man squad for the competition, which sees England kick-off against Nicaragua on Saturday 24 October (6am BST).

They then play Montenegro (8.45am GMT) and Cambodia (4.45pm GMT) on Sunday 25 October, before taking on Ireland (10.30am GMT) and Zimbabwe (4.45pm BST) on Monday 26 October.

Fixtures in the tournament stage will be determined following the completion of the group stage.

The Squad

 Goalkeepers: Thomas Armytage (Plymouth Argyle), Arlo Tye (Derby County)

Defenders: Joseph Akinsanya (Manchester United), Rocco Derefaka (Blackburn Rovers), Abdul-Muiz Odunsanya-Edunfunke (West Bromwich Albion), Piers Pinnock (SL Benfica)

Midfielders: Kobi Akerele (Liverpool), Isaac Allen (Tottenham Hotspur), Azae Bonnick (Nottingham Forest), Brian Nyoni (Manchester United)

Forwards: Shakeel Charles (Sheffield United), Emmanuel Famokun (West Ham United), Ty Livesey (Blackburn Rovers), Tommy McLoughlin (Ipswich Town)