For the moment, it is a fantasy fixture for Liverpool fans - their team taking on their fellow former European Cup winners Ajax. Yesterday, however, the two clubs did meet and in a game which might help Liverpool regain a place at the pinnacle of Europe sooner rather than later.

It was far away from Anfield or Amsterdam, at Keele University in Staffordshire, England, and some of the players were not yet in their teens, but the clash in a youth festival revealed much about the state of the English and Dutch games.

First, the bad news. Ajax outclassed Liverpool and ran out 5-0 victors. Some of their passing and interplay was sublime, while a couple of the goals were ridiculously good.

But the result was not really important. As Dave Richardson, director of the English Premier League-organised festival, said:

"Any result is a good result."

That is because the festival is the evidence that English clubs are learning about what can be achieved via youth set ups such as Ajax's and are trying to emulate them. Liverpool may have lost, but they, like the other nine English clubs involved, had brought a squad of players together for a week of competition, coaching and even tips on diet.

Split into three groups, the English clubs will play four games against each other or Ajax and Italians Parma over the course of the tournament. This week the players are under-13s, but the last three weeks have seen under-18s, 16s and 15s, all playing at the university, and next week will be the under 11s' turn.

But the key to every game, every group and every week is that there are no winners and losers, according to Richardson, the Premier League's director of youth. "There are no trophies and we don't even record the scores. It is not a win-at-all-costs mentality.

"The idea is just to expose our young players to a range of playing against different sides, both English and European, and learn from them. It all takes them away from their parents for a week to see how they cope with being on their own and how they react to having bad games or whatever."

The players in the younger age groups are linked to clubs via centres of excellence, a recent development in England. Among those who have appeared in recent years at the then-smaller festival have been Leiceser's Emile Heskey and, last year, Liverpool's Michael Owen.

But it, and youth development generally, is about the future not the past, as Ajax's youth coach Hennie De Regt said: "This is about winning the lottery if you can find your own young players."

It is a fact long realised in Amsterdam as the likes of Patrick Kluivert have rolled off what has seemed to be a production line but De Regt thinks the English system is getting better. "They are videoing the games here and talking them through with the boys and there is good coaching too."

Ajax's under-14s even went home last week with just one win and three draws. The difference is, however, England is playing catch-up. Asked how long the youth structure has been in place at his club, De Regt looked bemused and replied: "Always. It is just the culture in the Netherlands."

A culture which means that he spends up to an hour and a half, five days a week with his charges. His opposite numbers in England can only dream of such regular sessions after school and county matches, which often have precedence over club ones, are completed.

The culture gap is even more apparent in the attentive attitude shown by the mini-men Ajax players who punctuated team talks with raised hands to indicate they wanted to express some self-criticism or constructive comment.

De Regt is equally positive in his appraisal of the English boys: "I've seen some really good players here. Leeds had one who was brilliant." But there is a significant caveat. "If we had him for four or five years he would be an Ajax first team player."