North Village Rams will fly the Island’s banner in this year’s Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Champions Cup, Bermuda Football Association (BFA) have confirmed.Last year’s Premier champions will be among the thirty teams competing in this year’s tournament, which also serves as a CONCACAF Champions League qualifier.The winner of the CFU Champions Cup as well as the second and third placed teams will all advance to the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League.Puerto Rico Islanders, who play in the United Soccer League (USL) ranks, are the current champions having beaten Haiti’s Tempete FC (3-1) in last year’s final.Representing Bermuda in the previous CFU Champions Cup was Dandy Town, who lost 4-1 on aggregate in their first round home and away series with Trinidad’s Defence Force.This year will mark Rams’ first appearance in the regional competition and club president Shervin Dill said his players are eager to put their best foot forward.“This is our first time being involved in this tournament and we are excited about it, particularly our coach Shaun Goater, who is looking for us to do well,” he said.Dill hopes Rams’ exposure in the tournament will inspire the club’s grassroots players.“I am hoping it will be just another stage in our development,” he added. “It will certainly be an inspiration and I think that it does well for, not just for Rams, but for Bermuda’s football as well going forward for us to be able to get this type of international exposure.”Rams are due to meet with the BFA next week to iron out some of the finer details of the upcoming tournament.“At this stage we have no idea who the opponents will be but I can say that we are looking to make a commitment to enter into the CFU Champions Cup,” Dill said. “We are looking to put together budgets and all the rest of that stuff in terms of travel, which is still up in the air until we meet with the BFA next week.“But once we get all the information we will be more informed to make decisions as to how we are going to proceed.”BFA player development committee chairman Mark Wade said Rams will be informed of the actual window for the CFU Champions Cup and the identity of their opponents once they receive official confirmation from the CFU, who been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons lately.“We have had some initial discussions with North Village to keep them abreast of what’s happening there (CFU) and what the likely time lines are,” added Wade. “And we will continue to work with them as well to make sure they are ready to give Bermuda a good showing.”Despite having fallen on hard times economically, Wade said the BFA has still managed to allocate funding to go towards covering partial costs for Rams to compete in the tournament this year.“There’s definitely funding set aside,“ the former PHC defender added. “Then there’s all the logistical support on the part of the BFA administration that does the game day operations and travel for them as well.”