Norway’s U16s and U19s sides will tour Serbia from 29 August to 1 September 2024 to participate in the Belgrade Trophy, the youth tournament organized by the Belgrade Rugby League Federation and supported by Belgrade City Council since 2005.
The sides will play in a double header against their Serbian counterparts at the FC Radnicki Novi Beograd Stadium on Sunday 31 August (kick off U16s 4pm, U19s 6pm, local time) with both matches live streamed on the European Rugby League and Serbian Rugby League Facebook pages.
For the visitors, it will revive memories of their first-ever junior international in May 2017, when Serbia U18s went to Nannestad, north of Oslo to face the Norwegian U19s, winning 54-12.
Norway U16s and U19s head coach, Tim Jones, commented: “The Norwegian players are coming off a camp in Lillestrom with their mood upbeat but expectations realistic. The young Vikings are in a very much development phase of our National Youth Pathway. But there is currently a huge buzz about rugby league in Norway, with many people working hard behind the scenes both at club and national level.”
Jones added: “I’m very happy with both squads and looking forward to every player gaining vital game experience to help aid their development. It's a win-win situation for us regardless of the results, by giving the boys a very tough competitive fixture.”
Vladislav Dedic, Serbia U19’s national team coach, noted: “We look forward playing against Norway. After the Euro U19s Championship here,this is a perfect game to test our guys again. As young players they appreciate all chances to represent their country, and this is an opportunityfor some to put themselves on the radar for the open age national team.”
Serbia U16’s national team coach, Milos Stamenkovic, said: “This year has been exceptionally exciting for our young players. In addition to participating in the European Championship, we had the honour of hosting Featherstone Lions. With matches against Norway now our players are effectively ending their school summer break with a rugby ball in hand. The atmosphere in the team is fantastic, and we believe that these games will bring much benefit and joy to both our guests and ourselves.“