Raptors join the Fenix Trophy
We are thrilled to be one of the founding clubs of the Fenix Trophy - a brand new competition that will take place throughout Europe, with the aim of showcasing non-professional football, building lifelong friendships between clubs and enabling fans to attend never-before-seen fixtures between historic and innovative clubs.
Yesterday the draw for the tournament took place in Rome, at the home of Lodigiani Calcio 1972. We are in Group A with Lodigiani, HFC Falke of Hamburg and Cuenca-Mestallistes 1925 of Valencia.
We play each team home and away followed by a final weekend to be held in Rimini where we will play against the side from Group B who finishes the same position as us.
Raptors President, Daz Moss, commented on our involvement: "We have a had an amazing few years since we started the club and our invitation to this trophy really is a testament to the hard work done by our coaches, staff and players - both past and present. I am delighted about the teams we have drawn, personally because I never visited these 3 amazing cities but also because it is going to be an awesome adventure for our players. Everyone in the club is very excited about the upcoming games and we cannot wait to get started. We are the youngest, lowest ranked club in the competition but we hope to cause some surprises and do a good job of promoting non-professional Czech football on the international stage.
The clubs involved in this project are all unique and beautiful in different ways - we are proud to not call them our participants or competitors, but instead our friends. This network of people putting football and passion before money is exhilarating and we will all continue working together on spreading that message.
As a founding club, the Raptors have spent a lot of time working with the other clubs involved to help build the structure and brand of the Fenix Trophy - what the clubs have done together already shows that cross-border co-operation can work, and this is just the beginning. In future seasons we hope that more clubs join the trophy and we increase the exposure of non-league football across Europe & beyond."