* Update on Tuesday 14 April 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Maurice Revello Tournament has been postponed *
England MU21s will return to the Maurice Revello Tournament in Toulon this summer, with the Young Lions confirming their spot in the 2020 edition.
Aidy Boothroyd will take a squad to compete in the annual competition, now in its 48th year, which will take place in the Bouches-du-Rhône region of southern France between 1 and 14 June.
And England will be hoping to repeat their recent success at the prestigious tournament, having won it three times in the last four years with Boothroyd leading his class of 2018 to the title.
The 2020 tournament is open for players born from 1 January 1997 until 31 December 2001, meaning the players in Boothroyd’s current group will be eligible to feature.
With their qualification campaign for the 2021 U21 EURO to be concluded later in the year, the trip to Toulon will offer a chance for the group to work together for a longer period of time as well as play a minimum of four games.
“This tournament is a really important one for our players and their international development and is a unique opportunity at this age group to play global opposition and the different styles of play that they’d face at senior level," said Boothroyd.
“It’s also useful in replicating the challenges and schedule of major tournament football, with really competitive games and quick turnaround between matches.
“As the tournament has an U23 age limit because it is an Olympics year, we’ll be facing older players. Though we’ll be taking an U21 squad, as ultimately our overall aim is to qualify for and do well at next summer’s Euros, it’ll be valuable learning in testing themselves against older players.”
There will be 12 nations involved at this year’s tournament, with three groups of four teams and the winners and best runner-up progressing to the semi-finals.
The remaining nations will all play a final ranking game against teams from the other groups.
It’s England’s 22nd appearance at the competition, and the seventh successive year in which the Young Lions have competed after Gareth Southgate took an U21s squad there in 2014.
England are also the third most successful team in the tournament’s history, behind current holders Brazil’s nine titles and host nation France’s 12 honours.
