Rochdale Football Club is delighted to announce that the Crown Oil Arena will play host to international football next month.
England’s under-20s, led by Aidy Boothroyd, will take on USA under-20 at the Crown Oil Arena on Monday 10th October – 7pm kick-off.
The match is part of a four-nation tournament involving England, Germany, the USA. Oldham Athletic and Huddersfield Town are also set to stage one of the games.
The tournament will serve as good preparation for the 2017 U20 World Cup, which takes place in South Korea next May and June.
Aidy Boothroyd’s side have already qualified for the tournament, as have Germany, while the USA will hope to seal their place when the CONCACAF U-20 Championship takes place next spring.
Boothroyd, whose players began their World Cup build-up with a double-header against Brazil earlier this month, said: "By the end of this tournament, we’ll have played two events and against opposition from South America, North America and Europe and all of them are strong nations.
"We want to pit our wits against the best and we know the Germans and Dutch are always very strong the Americans are an emerging nation in football who have done really well at youth level in recent years.
"We’ve picked some good strong teams and we’re playing in a real football hotbed, so we’re looking forward to seeing some people come out and support us and have a look at one or two other countries."
Bradford-born Boothroyd is looking forward to the Germany fixture in particular, having started his career as a trainee with Huddersfield Town back in 1989.
And with the Terriers enjoying an impressive start to the new campaign under German boss David Wagner, Boothroyd is hoping that momentum can be maintained.
"I began my career at Huddersfield Town and it was a long time ago now, but I am looking forward to going back there," he admits.
"I’ve got happy memories of being there as a player, between 16 and 19, learning my trade and what it was like to be a professional footballer.
"They’ve made a really good start to the season and I hope they can continue that. They’ve had a few years flirting with the Championship and they’ve managed to get out of League One and into it now so hopefully they can sustain that start."
The tournament will kick-off on Wednesday 5 October with the USA taking on Germany in Leigh, before England meet the Netherlands at Oldham Athletic's Boundary Park later in the day.
After a day’s rest, Friday’s action will start with the Netherlands and the USA going head-to-head in Altrincham, before England face Germany at Huddersfield Town's John Smith's Stadium.
With no games across the weekend, the action resumes on the evening of Monday 10 October as the Young Lions and the USA face-off in Rochdale, and at the same time as Leigh's Sports Village hosts the Netherlands v Germany.
Tickets for all of England's games cost just £3 for adults and £1.50 for concessions and are available via each of the hosting clubs. The non-England games will be played behind closed doors. Ticket details will be announced in due course.