England's Powerchair squad will head to Finland later this month to compete in the EPFA Nations Cup.
Manager Colin Gordon has selected an eight-man squad for the trip which is being held at the Pajulahti Sports Institute between 22 and 26 May and also features Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The Para-Lions go to this competition as one of the seeded teams after their bronze medal at the World Championship in 2017 and are drawn in a group with Finland and Northern Ireland.
Each nation will face each other in a round robin system with the teams finishing in the top four heading into the semi-finals and the remaining three places will play again to decide their final placings.
The nations who finish in the top five will qualify to compete in the 2021 World Cup.
“We have a settled squad who have experience, although I am delighted to be able to select new players from the Powerchair pathway,” said Gordon ahead of the trip.
“France are the current world champions but we go to this championship with high hopes.”
Meet the squad
Chris Gordon
Current WFA Team: West Bromwich Albion
Years playing Powerchair football: 12
England debut: 2011 FIPFA World Cup in Paris
England highlight: Captaining the England team in the first official game s Belgium at the European Championships
Ambitions for Finland: We are going over there to showcase our ability, play the style of football that is enjoyable to watch and come back as champions in the hope of putting the sport of Powerchair football on the map.
Matthew Francis
Age: 21
Current WFA team: West Bromwich Albion
Past WFA teams: Brighton and Hove Albion
Years playing Powerchair football: 8
England debut: 2017 FIPFA WORLD CUP vs Ireland
England highlight: Playing in the 2017 FIPFA World Cup
Ambitions for Finland: To bring home the silverware
Brad Bates
Age: 20
Current WFA team: WBA PFC
Years playing Powerchair football: 10
England debut: N/A
England highlight (if applicable): N/A
Ambitions for Finland: Most importantly to win the tournament and make a strong impression for starting place in the team. From there, to push on to World Cup success.
Jon Bolding
Age: 31
Current WFA team: Aspire PFC
Years playing Powerchair football: 17
England debut: 2007 Paris World Cup
England highlight: Being given the captaincy and being captain into two cup finals (Euros and World Cup)
Ambitions for Finland: To win, playing the way we know we can. To show the world that England do have what it takes to go one step further.
Edward Common
Age: 24
Current WFA team: Northern Thunder
Years playing Powerchair football: 12 and half years
England debut: 2007 World Cup
England highlight: My second World Cup in 2011 and second Nations League in 2014.
Ambitions for Finland: Winning it and then 2021 World Cup: winning it
Gregg Baxter
Age: 17
Current WFA Team: Brighton and Hove Albion PFC (nationally) and Portsmouth PFC (regionally)
Years playing Powerchair football: 10
England debut: N/A
England highlight: N/A
Ambitions for Finland: To make my England debut in Finland and score a goal but more importantly win the competition. For the 2021 WC, I’d like to firstly make the squad, score a goal and again win the competition
Sam Smith
Age: 19
Current WFA Team: Northern Thunder
Years playing Powerchair football: 8
England debut: 2017 FIPFA World Cup vs Republic of Ireland
England highlight: Being part of the 2017 FIPFA World Cup squad and scoring on my debut vs Ireland.
Ambitions for Finland: To win the Euros in Finland playing our way. Then build on that as a squad ahead of the 2021 WC, where the ambitions are to be to become World Cup winners, showing the world how the sport should be played along the way.
Marcus Harrison
Age: 21
Current WFA Team: West Bromwich Albion
Years playing Powerchair football: 10
England debut: 2014 EPFA Nations Cup (Limerick)
England highlight: Scoring the goal of the tournament against world champions France in the 2017 World Cup (Florida)
Ambitions for Finland: Win the tournament as we deserve that much.
