What to wear and bring on the flights:

• Players must wear their black team tracksuit with the black training t-shirt underneath.
• Players must not wear shorts or match shirts.
• Players should use their team holdall as hand luggage – this holdall should contain what the players need for the plane as this will not be checked in and must meet standard cabin baggage requirements.

Holdall/ cabin bag suggested packing list:

• • • • Book/ Magazine/ Notepad/ Headphones
      • Packed lunch and snacks
      • Medication (labelled with instructions and player name)
      • Match kit (just in case checked luggage is lost or delayed)
      • No fluids!!!

To hand over to the Coach at the airport:

• • • • • Passport
        • European Health Card (EHIC Card) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) if players have one.
        • Allergy info/ Emergency Action plan (EpiPen users)

Checked luggage:

We prefer you not to use ‘hard’ suitcases due to limited storage at the accommodation, a soft duffel bag with wheels is ideal.

Recommended packing list:

• • • Casual clothes (including warm jacket)
    • Casual shoes
    • Nightwear
    • Towel
    • Toiletries (toothpaste, toothbrush, shower gel,  deodorant)
    • Flip-flops or sliders
    • Suncream
    • Sun hat or baseball cap
    • Waterproof
    • Swimwear
    • Match kit (if not packed in holdall) – Minimum of Green Match top, Black shorts and 2 pairs of the green socks.
    • Additional training kit or sportswear
    • 2 x empty water bottles (min. total volume 1.5 litres)
    • Shinpads
    • Studded football boots
    • Astro boots
    • Sock tape
    • Spare laces, studs, stud tightener, boot cleaner
    • 2 x large bin bags (to cover holdall in case of rain during match and for muddy boots)
    • Goalkeepers: GK gloves, glove cleaner, hand towel and cap for matches
    • Single air mattress
    • Sleeping bag
    • Pillow
    • Pump for mattress (perhaps use Parents WhatsApp group to see if several players could share a pump)
    • Pre-paid currency card and spending money (Swedish Krona) – Revolut, Fairfx and GoHenry offer Under 18’s card option’s for spending abroad.
    • Small amount of GBP (£) for UK airport
    • Mobile phone and charger  – Please note all phones are collected in before bed.
    • European plug adapter
    • Camera/ Book/ Magazine/ Playing cards/ Travel sized games
    • England flags/ banner for Opening ceremony (Optional)

NOTE: Blow-up mattress (single only – do not bring a double mattress). These can be bought in most Superstores or Argos and cost around £10. They come very tightly packed when new so are easy to fit into luggage if you remove the box.

The senior Boys 15 and Boys 16 teams do not need a mattress, pump, pillows, sleeping bag nor towels as they will be staying in a hotel.

Prohibited items:

• Please note that sweets/chocolate etc. are strictly not allowed and the coaching staff will be forced to eat them if found!
• Other food items such as cereal bars can be brought but please ensure these DO NOT CONTAIN NUTS.

Medication

If you need to give medication to the coaching staff, please put the medication in it’s original packaging, into a clear bag with a sticker with the players’ name clearly labelled.

• Ideally the player should carry this to Sweden themself, and then hand to the Coaches once in Gothenburg.

If the player needs an Epi-pen or inhaler then they must have a minimum of two. One to be kept on the player at all times and one to be kept by the Team Leader. Please ensure they are clearly named along with their allergy/ condition.

Luggage allowances

The players are allowed to check in one bag.

The luggage allowance is 23kg on BA, Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines and Norwegian airlines.

We prefer you not to use ‘hard’ suitcases for hold luggage, a soft duffel bag with wheels is ideal.

Mobile Phones & Tech

A mobile phone is a good way to stay in touch with parents, but we suggest taking an older model rather than an expensive phone in case it is lost.

Please note, that players are not allowed to use their mobile phones at night and mobile phones will be collected in by the staff before bedtime.

The teams will be travelling on busy public transport networks with lots of distractions around them so it is easy to lose phones, airpods, sunglasses, boot bags etc. We ask parents to encourage their players to take responsibility for their items by leaving anything expensive or valuable at the accommodation.

• • Top tip – Label anything expensive with a sticky label with player name and parent mobile number on in case found on public transport!

Spending money

We get lots of questions about money so here is our complete guide!

We recommend an absolute maximum of £30 a day.

We would expect players to spend something like:

Saturday & Sunday – £20 a day. Monday to Wednesday – £5 a day. Thursday, Friday  & Saturday – £20-30 a day.

Expenditure will be mainly on snacks, drinks, souvenirs, rides at the theme park and trips out (crazy golf/laser quest) if the team is knocked out of the tournament.

The amount they spend will therefore increase if the team is knocked out of the tournament.

The meals provided in the school run from Sunday (14th) dinner until Saturday (20th) breakfast, so outside of these days players will need to purchase their own food, which we will help them to do from local supermarkets or healthy restaurants.

Pre-paid travel cards

In Gothenburg, it’s becoming increasingly unusual to pay by cash and each year we notice more and more shops no longer accepting cash.

While all players must bring some Swedish krona in cash with them, parents should also provide players with a pre-loaded cash card or debit card too.

Some popular accounts for children’s cards are Fairfx, GoHenry, Monzo, Post Office (moneycard) and Starling.

• These can be tracked and topped up by parents during the week.
• The cards can often be used to pay for any currency so they can use the card in the UK airport, to pay for things in Euros if they are flying non-direct and also in Sweden.
  

So we’d advise something like £20 cash in £/GBP. £40 worth of Krona cash in small denominations and pre-paid international top-up card (£150 worth initially) which you can top-up during the week.

Our amounts are only a guideline (although parents should remember that Gothenburg is an expensive city compared to the UK) and parents will need to make their own decision on how much to give their son/ daughter.

The players may hand money into their Head Coach to keep safe, but no member of staff nor the Club will accept any responsibility for money which is lost or stolen. If you wish for your son/daughter to hand in some money, it must be in an envelope with their name and amount on. Ensure small denominations because we can only give the players the notes you provide for them.