Jim Crawford hopes that his Ireland U-21 side can use a three-game friendly tournament in Spain as a platform to further their careers with club and country.

Matches against Switzerland, Australia and Denmark have been confirmed in a non-competitive tournament in Spain between May 30th and June 5th, which is Crawford's first chance to work with his players since a friendly in Wales in March.

A tournament in Toulon two years ago saw prospects like Caoimhin Kelleher, Jason Knight and Adam Idah blossom and Crawford is hoping for more of the same.

“I saw how the Toulon Tournament in 2019 gave a lot of the players involved in the Under-21s a platform for their club form and the confidence to go play at this level," he said.

“Having these games in Marbella gives us an opportunity to give a talented group match minutes and a chance to come together over 10 days, work hard, work on our style of play and get ready for September.

"We were determined to get a number of games in the June international window for the players to have the best possible preparation for our qualifiers.

"It is excellent news that this has been confirmed, all three teams present exciting and challenging opposition to our team and myself and the staff can’t wait to get back with the players to test ourselves against this standard of opposition.”