France & Italy 2025

Twyford Spartans left Tiverton on the evening of 20th August heading to Portsmouth to catch the overnight ferry to Caen, The next morning they headed to their first stop of Chalon Sur Saone. On the way there they visited Paris for a stadium tour of Paris St Germain home ground. Unusual fact Paris FC stadium is across the road and has Paris St Germain shop under it’s stadium.

Passing through the Alps and entering Italy through a long tunnel pass Lake Lugano was a good experience and spectacular scenery. On the 22nd they headed to Milan for a two night stay at the Hotel Metro where the outside rooftop breakfast was different.

We visited the Cathedral and the centre of Milan via the local underground. for 2 euros. The local pizza restaurant was excellent before we travelled by tram to the San Siro for AC Milan versus Cremonese serial a match with a attendance of over 70 thousand and ended 1-1.

Our trip down to Turin for 4 nights arriving on 24th August was short and quick. Our hotel had the Alps on three sides and was a nice hotel. The Hotel Barrage in Pinerolo was 15 miles from Turin. Here we were hosted by Juventus Academy for coaching and matches with Matteo from Juventus staying at the Hotel with us.

We trained on the Juventus academy pitches and the standard of coaching was as good as i hoped for. On the Sunday we watched Juventus v Parma in front of a 42K crowd. Juventus won 2-0. Next day was our first match for the older team against Pinerolo which we lost 2-0. The match was close and our host very niggly. The younger team then played Bahrein and it ended 6-6. Our goal scorers were Sam Sussex 3, Josh Clarke 2 and Illia Shtark. Never seen a game like it. After our second hour and half training session we visited a waterpark next door to the hotel with 4 pools, slide and mini golf. Day 4 saw a stadium tour of Juventus followed by our next matches. Two different venues this time and the older team played Borgaro 16’s and 17’s in the mountains. The game against the 17’s was an excellent game to watch, not as niggly and saw Sunny Webber net a late deserved equaliser. Twyford deserved to win the second game but it ended 0-0. The younger team played a Juventus team called Elite Sis Sports. Three matches were played. Lost the first 2-1, the second 4-1 and the third 1-0. Jax Gray and Josh Clarke scored for Twyford, Younger squad also included Wesley Clarke, Noah Brooks, Joseph Ingham, Jakub Skrzypon, Harley Newsome and Alexander Bailey. The older squad also included Cody Stansfield, Jake Whalley, Connor Seville, Harry Silverton, Corbin Simmons, Job Gerrard, Oscar Prince, Oakley Bolton, Will Findlay, Louie Denno and Finlay Ayre.

We then head back to Milan for two nights. Staying at the StarHotel Grand Saronno with a the swimming pool, gym, sauna, jacuzzi, steam room on the 9th floor and had three women’s champion leagues teams staying there. From here we went to Como on a very rainy day but Como was still beautiful. Cesc Fabregas cancelled our stadium tour as he wanted his Como team to train on the pitch. On the way back we went to Monza but they would not let us in as Inter were playing a behind close door youth friendly.

Then it is back through the Alps to St Etienne on the 30th August. What a scenic route. That night we watched St Etienne v Grenoble in a very loud stadium. The game was 1-1, we went by tram from the hotel, and the crowd of 38K loved it although they did protest against Lyon not being relegated.

The last night in France was in Le Man at an excellent budget hotel next to the football stadium and the Le Man racing circuit. The next day we caught the late afternoon ferry from Cherbourg to Poole. Arriving back in Tiverton just after midnight on the 2nd September.