Burnley FC set out ambitious 'Champions League' objective for Dude Perfect International Youth Cup

That’s according to club president and director Stuart Hunt, speaking as the competition got underway for the fifth straight year on Friday morning.

It pits 16 teams from across the globe against one another and features some household names, such as AC Milan, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund. FC Dallas, meanwhile, have travelled the furthest to compete at Burnley’s Gawthorpe training ground.

The three-day competition, which comes to a close on Sunday, sees Under-12 sides playing 50-minute, eight-a-side games.

Hunt is delighted with the success of the competition but is eyeing some ambitious plans for its future.

“This tournament is actually huge for Burnley Football Club in showcasing our wonderful academy and we're happy that it gets bigger and bigger every year, if not solely by reputation,” he said.

“The reputation is now preceding it and you see a lot of return teams coming from around Europe. Top clubs and we hope to attract more. It's a perfect event to showcase our academy.”

Hunt added: “The key element for us here with this tournament is building a reputation of it being the destination spot for all European clubs and all global clubs.

“We want this to be the Champions League of all youth tournaments, so eventually we're going to go from 16 teams to 32 teams and even in the future add more age groups.

“For us, this needs to be the top place for all European clubs.”

From a coaching perspective, the competition provides a priceless opportunity for Burnley’s Under-12s to pit themselves against some of the best young talent the world has to offer.

“First and foremost, it's going to be competitive,” team coach Ronan McCarthy explained.

“Luckily, every week we do a good games programme here. But this is going to be ultra-competitive.

“The tournaments we usually play, we tend to play against local teams, we might play against the teams from that country.

“But when it's a real, proper international tournament, we're going to play against a German team – we're going to play against Chelsea, one of the best teams in this country, we're going to play against a team from a different continent in America – so how often do we get this? It's an amazing experience for the kids.

“It’s also going to be an occasion where they're going to have lots of spectators watching them. Lots of coaches from all their ages, so it's really a good chance for the players to impress.

“It's a bit more of a high-pressure situation that they usually don't get. But I think they're really going to thrive on it.”

The competition comes at the perfect time for the Clarets, given it coincides with recent news that its academy has regained Category One status.

That means the club’s professional development phase teams will now compete against the country’s best youth academies in PL2 and the Under-18 Premier League respectively next season.

“That is a key element for our academy,” Hunt added. “We need to be able to attract quality young players to be able to build and fill in our ranks, so to speak.

“We want those players to be local, we want those players to be within our catchment area, so that we can see the homegrown talent, keep them here and see them play in their first team eventually.

“It's one of our goals and objectives to become a developmental team, a developmental club.

“Whether that talent comes locally, we’d prefer them to come locally, or from abroad, we want to bring them in, make them better and if they choose to leave, then they'll leave a better person, a better talent, a better player. If they choose to stay, fantastic, they'll be a great part of our club.”

Supporters are welcome to attend either of the remaining two days for free, but must claim a ticket online via the official club website.

Alternatively, all games are streamed live on the club’s YouTube channel.