Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth academy will host a three-day international youth tournament next week for the third year in a row after two very successful previous events.
England’s Crystal Palace, S.B.V. Excelsior of Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Grasshoppers Zurich from Switzerland will participate alongside the hosts, Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beersheba. The event will take place at Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 
PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom between January 23-25.
Here is a brief look at S.B.V. Excelsior of Rotterdam, who like Crystal Palace, are returning for the second year in a row. The club have ended the first half of their current youth campaign in seventh place in the Eerste Divisie U19. Last season they had success in the Dutch Cup, getting past fellow-Rotterdam outfit Feyenoord, and Twente before falling to Ajax Amsterdam in the semi-finals.
These are some of the most notable players to have turned out for Excelsior:
Robin van Persie: The striker played for Excelsior’s youth side before moving to Feyenoord. He is the top scorer for the Netherlands national team. Born in Rotterdam, Van Persie joined Excelsior when he was five but left for Feyenoord’s youth academy when he was 16. He made his full team debut at the Rotterdam outfit because of an injury crisis at the club and was quickly promoted into the first team. He made his debut for the club at 17, the first of 15 total starts during the 2001–02 season. After starting for Feyenoord in UEFA Cup final, he received the KNVB Best Young Talent award. After five years at Feyenoord, in 2004 Van Persie moved to Arsenal where he was a prolific striker, scoring 132 goals in 278 Premier League appearances. He moved to Manchester United in 2012 where he made 105 appearances and scored 58 goals. After leaving England in 2015, he moved to Turkey and joined Fenerbahce before making the final stop of his career back at Feyenoord in 2018 where he retired in last May.
Mounir El Hamdaoui: The Rotterdam-born striker joined the Excelsior youth academy in 2001 and played together with his youth friends Robin van Persie and Saïd Boutahar. In the 2001–02 season, he made debut for the Rotterdam side under manager Adrie Koster, scoring two goals in six appearances. El Hamdaoui played a total of 74 league matches for Excelsior, scoring 32 goals. He has gone on to play at Derby County, Willem II, AZ Alkmaar, Ajax Amsterdam, Fiorentina and Malaga.
As an under-21 he played for the Netherlands but switched allegiances and played for Morocco 16 times, scoring three goals. He is currently seeing out his playing career in Qatar.
Luigi Bruins: Attacking midfielder Bruins started playing at age six. He was initially turned down by Feyenoord and joined Excelsior instead. Bruins went through the complete Excelsior youth academy, until he made his professional debut in 2005. He played for Feyenoord, Red Bull Salzburg and Nice before returning to his boyhood club. He played 294 matches and scored 33 goals during his adult career and is currently still active as a player as well as taking on coaching duties of Excelsior’s under-13s.
