The Australian Institute of Sport/Australian Football League (AFL) Academy squad has completed a highly successful European tour, which provided an opportunity for some of Australia’s most talented footballers to gain sporting experience at the international level.

Highlights of the AIS/AFL Academy squad’s tour included attending the ANZAC Dawn Service in Gallipoli, Turkey on 25 April, visiting the AIS’s European Training Centre (ETC) based in Gavirate in Varese, Italy (from 17–21 April) and playing a match against the European Legion’s under-21 representative team (23 April) in front of a crowd of 2000 spectators at Dulwich College in south London.

Videos with footage highlights of the tour are now available on the AFL website.

As part of the tour, the AIS/AFL Academy squad scored a huge 171 point win in its match against the European Legions team, who put up a good fight.

‘The match was a wonderful opportunity for Australian Football to display its talented footballers in the international arena against the European Legions in a region that is growing in terms of its development and the way in which it has taken to the AFL code,’ AFL National and International Talent Manager Kevin Sheehan said.

Following the match, the squad visited Gavirate in northern Italy, where the squad held a training camp at the ASC’s ETC facility. A visit to AC Milan football club’s training facilities formed part of the camp. The tour culminated with AIS/AFL Academy players paying their respects at the ANZAC Dawn Service at Gallipoli in Italy.

'The AFL would like to thank the Australian Institute of Sport for its support of the AIS/AFL Academy program, which reaches its peak with this international tour.’

Each year the AIS/AFL Academy offers thirty 12-month scholarships to young athletes who are entering the last year of their junior football development.

The AIS/AFL Academy is a commitment made by the ASC, through the AIS and AFL, to enhance the sporting, personal and educational and vocational opportunities of our best young players.

The AIS/AFL Academy squad included: Devon Smith, Jack Viney, Shannon Taylor, Brian Coleman-Broome, Stephen Coniglio, Jonathan O'Rourke, Lachie Whitfield, Chris Yarran, Jaeger O'Meara, Rory Atkins, Nathan Wilson, Nick Vlastuin, Sam Mayes, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Jacob Townsend, Alex Sexton, Elliott Kavanagh, Joshua Growden, Matthew Buntine, Jimmy Webster, Matthew Haynes, Shaun Edwards, Jake Stringer, Adam Tomlinson, Jeremy Cameron, Todd Elton, Sam Michael, Liam McBean, Joe Daniher, Brodie Grundy and Liam Sumner.