Toulon Tournament 2014 live on BT Sport

BT Sport will screen live coverage of the Toulon Tournament, the annual invitational youth competition staged in France, for the first time in 2014.

England, who won the tournament four times in the early 1990s, return to the tournament this year as part of the FA’s bid to place greater importance on youth tournaments.

They travel to France on the back of a 3-1 win away to Wales in the UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifiers.

Players born before 1993 have been cut from the England under-21 squad but the roster still includes Premier League names such as Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland, Leicester City defender Liam Moore, Chelsea midfielder Josh McEachran, Southampton starlet James Ward-Prowse and strikers Saido Berahino, Harry Kane and Cauley Woodrow.

Sporting Clube defender Eric Dier, who has come through the Lisbon club’s academy, lends a cosmopolitan touch to the squad.

England will face Qatar, Brazil, South Korea and Colombia in Group B, while Group A consists of the hosts France as well as Chile, Mexico, Portugal and China.

BT have picked up the rights to the tournament, which for years has been a staple of summers on EuroSport, and will be showing every match live on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2.

Away from England, the tournament, in which matches are played over 80 minutes, offers a chance to see some emerging talents in action.

The hosts feature Paris St-Germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot, a scorer for his club at the weekend, and highly rated Valenciennes forward Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, who was recently courted by the Cameroon FA.

Holders Brazil, meanwhile, bring a squad bursting with quality, including central defenders Dória of Botafogo and PSG’s Marquinhos, both of whom have been tipped to become mainstays of the Brazil senior side.

Chelsea youngster Lucas Piazón, who spent last season on loan at Vitesse in the Netherlands, will feature in attack alongside Leandro, who scored on his full international début in April 2013 in a friendly against Bolivia. 

With most teams unknown quantities by definition, how England will fare remains to be seen. Even Qatar, with products of their high-profile Aspire Academy, should not be written off. 

If they can progress through the tournament, England’s head coach Gareth Southgate and the players will see it as a good way to end the season on a high before the team’s final Euro qualifiers in Lithuania and Moldova in the autumn.

The tournament opens on Wednesday, May 21 with Mexico against Portugal, while England’s first game against Qatar takes place a day later.

Held around the Region-du-Var, with the final being held in Toulon itself, every match from the 2014 edition of this competition will be broadcast live on BT Sport and ESPN.

Live coverage of every England match will be presented from BT Sport’s Olympic Park studios by Lynsey Hipgrave, alongside pundits including David James and Peter Taylor, while match commentary comes from Peter Drury, John Roder and Dan O’Hagan.

For more information about the Toulon Tournament, visit the official website.

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