Wisconsin Soccer Central

Once again this spring, Wisconsin soccer players are training and playing the sport across Europe.

North Shore United's Under-13 boys and girls teams spent eight days in Wales before heading to London on Wednesday to close out their 11-day tour to the United Kingdom.

The trip celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Cedarburg club's partnership with Premier League club Swansea City AFC, and included training sessions and matches at the club's Landore Training Academy.

Meanwhile, two Bavarian SC teams leave Saturday for Madrid. It's the third straight year the club is taking an Under-13 boys side to Spain, while a combined Under-13 through Under-16 team is the first Bavarians girls team to make the nine-day trip.

The teams will train at the Real Madrid Academy, tour the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, attend a La Liga match between Atlético Madrid and Real Betis on April 2 and play several matches. The boys will face Cobeja CF and then play in a tournament, including games against Ayunt Verdy Infantil and ED Moratalaz, while the girls are set to play Las Rozas, CF Madrid and Escuela RFEF.

And next Thursday, Milwaukee Torrent owner and coach Andreas Davi is taking a group of 32 local players to his hometown of Leverkusen, Germany, where they will train with Academy coaches from Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen.

The group includes 29 players from Milwaukee's ACE SC, along with two players from the Milwaukee Kickers and one from FC Wisconsin Nationals. The traveling party will tour the BayArena and take in two Bayer Leverkusen matches during their 12-day trip, at home against Wolfsburg on April 1 and at 1. FC Köln on April 10.

• Sidney Marquardt posted the clean sheet as the SC Waukesha Blue Under-14 boys team tied Virginia's Bethesda South 0-0 on March 12 in Las Vegas to earn its first point in U.S. Youth Soccer National League play. SC Waukesha saw Pennsylvania's Beadling rally from a halftime deficit to win 4-2 on March 11, then lost to Missouri's Sporting J.B. Marine 7-1 on March 13 to finish 0-6-1 in the eight-team Red Division. Bennett Pauls, Matt Richter and Johnny Daniels scored during the final weekend for SC Waukesha, just the fourth state team to play in the National League in the competition's nine-year history.
• The Wisconsin President's Cup, for Under-13 through Under-17 boys and Under-13 and Under-14 girls teams, will be held May 21 and 22 at Woodside Sports Complex in Wisconsin Dells. Teams that enter the State Cup but lose in play-in games are eligible to enter the competition, too. State champions earn spots in the U.S. Youth Soccer President's Cup Region II event, which is June 16 to 20 in Westfield, Ind.