Yes, you read that headline correctly. And, it is not some cheap joke about a team from the North East of Lithuania playing a team whose name is full of Zs in Serbia. It's true - and the oppostion is the mighty Juventus. The team travelling to Italy on August 1st (or, for the pedants, travelling before August 1st to play on August 1st) is the mighty West Auckland Town.

Why, you might ask, are West Auckland Town of the Northern League going all the way to Italy to get thrashed in a game that looks as one sided as many World Cup qualifiers? The reason is to commemorate their win against Juventus in the World Cup in 1909. Confused? Well, Sir Thomas Lipton in 1907 decided he wanted to have a World Cup and summoned the best clubs to take part. There's some debate as to whether his instruction to invite "W.A" did not mean West Auckland Town. Of course, we're not talking Wigan Athletic - they were not even a twinkle in the eye of footballing Lancastrians. it's rumoured that the reference was to Woolwich Arsenal, the former name of Wenger's boys.

West Auckland Town did rather well, beating Juvenus in the final 6-1. As for their chances on August 1st - they're probably about the same as any other club from the North East playing away to Juventus.