Academy players to commemorate Christmas Truce match 110 years on

The Premier League's Christmas Truce Tournament returns this weekend as Under-12 academy players from clubs across England join their international counterparts to learn about the importance of sacrifice and friendship.

Held in the significant town of Ypres, Belgium, the competition's focus is the Christmas Day Truce of 1914, where amid the horrors of the First World War, soldiers on opposing sides laid down their weapons on 25 December to play football and exchange gifts.

During the three-day event, as well as competing on the pitch, youngsters will take part in educational and cultural activities, including laying wreaths during an evening ceremony at the Menin Gate that commemorates the war dead and an immersive experience of the trench conditions suffered by soldiers during the Great War.

Prior to the main tournament this weekend, qualifying events took place on Remembrance Sunday at four military venues across the country - Aldershot, Catterick, Cosford and Portsmouth.

More than 400 players from 30 Premier League and EFL clubs participated in the events - and after a remarkable 75 matches and 194 goals scored, it was Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United and Southampton who came out on top in their groups and will be heading to Belgium this December.

They will be joined by Anderlecht, Genk, Bayer Leverkusen and Toulouse, representing the other nations who fought in the fields around Ypres during the First World War.

As part of the Premier League's commitment to creating more opportunities for girls and young women to play football, four under-18 girls' teams will also join this year's event in Ypres.

The girls, representing Chelsea, Southampton, Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion, will take part in a special Premier League Kicks Christmas Truce Tournament to celebrate their involvement in the Premier League's longest running community programme, Premier League Kicks.

Alongside the football competition, the Premier League, in partnership with Big Ideas, has introduced an educational project for the Academy teams called "Power in Pals - The Football Battalion".

Through this project, clubs completed three interactive missions for a chance to secure an additional spot in the main tournament. These were: creating a team portrait, designing a recruitment poster and fostering friendships to promote community unity.

Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion and Middlesbrough were selected as the winners of the education project.