A group of local soccer players is preparing to go global.

Forty-three members of the Langley United Youth Soccer Association depart for Sweden today (Friday) where they will take part in the Gothia Cup.

LUYSA has three entries — U12, U13, U14 — in the tournament, which features more than 1,500 players from about 65 different countries.

It is being held in Gothenburg, Sweden.

“It is supposed to be one of the best youth tournaments in the world,” said Jamie Booth, the trip’s co-ordinator and a coach of one of the teams.

He is also the LUYSA director of player development.

“This is the World Cup of youth soccer,” he added.

The trip has been about a year in the planning, with the players doing various fundraising activities to help off-set the costs. Included in that was a pancake breakfast they held at McLeod Park back in October.

One of the major reasons behind entering the tournament was to give the players a taste of competing on such a grand stage.

“This is another one of our soccer immersion experiments,” Booth said.

“We have really amped up the training for this.

Booth added that getting the players used to travelling, especially such a large distance, is important for their development.

“This is the big time,” he said.

At this age, soccer players from Canada tend to be able to do not too bad against the rest of the world. It is when the players get to older ages that the gap between the world’s soccer best and Canada tends to become gigantic.

“Up until 14 or 15, Canada can compete globally,” he explained.

“After that is when we (Canada) drop the ball.”

The chance to compete against some of the top talent from around the world will help “fill in the cracks in the players’ development,” Booth said.

The tournament begins with the opening ceremonies on Sunday, which are expected to draw about 50,000 spectators, and play begins on Monday. The tournament concludes on Sunday.

“We are going to represent Langley with pride,” Booth said.