On the Longa football field in Lichtenvoorde, a boy who feels at home here is playing in the Olympia Talent Cup. Not only because he is good with the ball, but also because he played here himself for years. Finn (12) started his football adventure at Longa and is now part of De Graafschap’s youth academy. So for him, this tournament is more than just playing a few games.<\/p>\n
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From Longa to De Graafschap<\/strong> The transition from a warm small-town club to a professional youth academy took some getting used to, but Finn quickly felt at home. \u201cIt’s different; you play against professional clubs instead of amateur teams. And we train four times a week, plus matches.\u201d Still, he looks back fondly on his time at Longa. \u201cI had a lot of friends there and it was always fun. And I could just ride my bike to training.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From Longa to De Graafschap, and now back on familiar ground at the Olympia Talent Cup On the Longa football field in Lichtenvoorde, a boy who feels at home here is playing in the Olympia Talent Cup. Not only because he is good with the ball, but also because he played here himself for years. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ongecategoriseerd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cWhen I was eight, I suddenly received a letter from De Graafschap,\u201d says Finn. \u201cThey asked if I wanted to come and train with them.\u201d He remembers the moment well: training with other talented players from the region, the excitement of not knowing whether he would make it or not. \u201cFortunately, I was accepted in the end. It was really exciting, but also great fun.\u201d<\/p>\n