Kevin Kilbane in city to launch the Foyle Cup

The competition, which takes place throughout the North West next month, will see over 250 teams enter.

Tournament chairman Michael Hutton was delighted that the former Republic of Ireland international was making the trip to the Maiden City.

“It is appropriate that we should have the honour of welcoming another Irish international player to the city this year, for the Foyle Cup has been the passport into professional football for current Irish internationals such as Shay Given, Darron Gibson, James McClean, Seamus Coleman, Robbie Keane, Daniel Lafferty, Shane Duffy and Shane Ferguson, to name but a few,” he said.

“Kevin is someone who has not only represented Ireland at international level, being their most capped player but has gone on to carve out a very successful media career for himself as he works as a pundit for RTE Sport, is a columnist for the Irish Daily Mail and appears on BBC Radio 5 Live, Football Focus, Final Score and Match of the Day.”

Once again cross channel clubs Norwich City, Hearts, Celtic and Motherwell along with Irish League Premiership sides Crusaders Coleraine and Glenavon; while local teams Derry City, Institute, Foyle Harps, Trojans and Culmore to name but a few are also taking part in the competition, which takes place from July 20-25.

Mr Hutton went onto to comment on the growth of the Foyle Cup tournament and believes the young talented footballer from around the North West area in particular have a great chance of getting spotted by a cross channel club.

“The event goes from strength to strength. Such is the appeal of the event that the numbers of team entering the competition has more than doubled in the last four years - we had 132 teams in 2011 and will have a record entry of 278 teams.

“It’s hard to believe that this event, which had its humble beginnings in 1992 when we organised an 8 team, one day tournament, will host in 2015 a 6 day festival of football with such a high standard of entry.

“The interest in the event has been immense and this year, despite the huge growth in terms of entries, we have still had to refuse entry to more than 25 teams. As with previous years, there will be a plethora of clubs sending scouts to the event, clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Sunderland, Norwich City, Sheffield United, Blackburn Rovers, Celtic, Hearts, Rangers, and many others, hoping to discover and secure the services of the next Irish star.”

For more details visit website www.foylecup.com or contact Michael Hutton on 02871359734.