Islington Borough under-12 girls have been invited to compete in the Gothia Cup in Sweden later this year – and are seeking some funding to help make the trip.

The community club prides itself on having a mission to empower girls to play to their full potential, while also developing a strong sense of team work, respect for fairness and to enjoy the sport.

They aim to create opportunity for all ages and abilities and are in the process of becoming a recognised deaf aware club, with a deaf training assistant working with the under-12s, who include two deaf girls, and another girl making great progress with the under-14 team.

The Gothia Cup is described as the world’s largest and most international youth football tournament, with more than 1,700 teams from over 80 nations taking part.

Islington Borough have the chance to showcase their skills at the event and spokesperson Cassie Williams said: “Although there is a huge appetite for girls football at a grassroots level in the UK, there continues to be a serious lack of funding.

“We don’t want this lack of funding to be a barrier to the girls participating in such a wonderfully diverse and inclusive tournament and to getting an opportunity to realise their full capabilities.

“We have applied for numerous community grants to help fund this trip and have successfully secured £2,800.

“In addition, our enthusiastic under-12s are putting together further fundraising ideas to help make their own contributions.”

The club are asking for donations via a gofundme.com webpage to make the Gothia Cup a reality for the girls and Williams added: “We hope that this sort of opportunity will help to create strong ambassadors for women’s football of the future, not only as players, but as coaches and referees.”

One of the young players, Morgan, added: “Being deaf, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience because I will get to see a new country with my team and meet other players from all over the world.”

Team-mate Annabella added: “I want to go to Sweden to experience a different culture and experiences.

“I want to learn about football from a different perspective with my team.”

To make an online donation to help the team go to gofundme.com/get-the-iblfc-u12s-to-sweden