Queensland’s David Barber has been selected to attend the Pararoos’ three day training camp, to be held in Sydney this weekend.
The Pararoos will head to Seville, Spain for the 2019 International Federation for Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) World Cup in July.
The Rockhampton-born defender will be one of 20 players to convene at Football New South Wales’ headquarters in Glenwood this weekend as competition for places in Kai Lammert’s squad ramps up.
“There are now less than three months until our World Cup kicks off in Seville, so we need to make the most of the days that we have together as we work towards our goal of finishing higher than we did at the 2017 IFCPF World Championship that was held in Argentina,” Lammert said.
Barber, who completed his 20th year captaining the national side in 2018, will be looking to add to his seven World Championship appearances.
At the 2019 IFCPF World Cup, the Pararoos are aiming to achieve a top ten finish, having finished 10th in the 2017 IFCPF CP Football World Championships.
Australia have been placed in a challenging group where they’ll face the world’s top ranked side, Ukraine, as well as Argentina (5th) and hosts Spain (16th) in Group C.
The tournament will also be used as a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
The 2019 IFCPF World Cup will be held from July 4 – July 20 2019, with the Pararoos set to play their opening match against Ukraine on Sunday, 7 July 2019.
Pararoos 2019 IFCPF World Cup matches:
Ukraine v Australia
Date: Sunday, 7 July 2019
Location: Seville, Spain
Kick-off: 9.00am (local); 5.00pm (AEST)
Australia v Argentina
Date: Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Location: Seville, Spain
Kick-off: 9.00pm (local); 5.00am – Wednesday, 10 July 2019 (AEST)
Australia v Spain
Date: Thursday, 11 July 2019
Location: Seville, Spain
Kick-off: 11.00am (local); 7.00pm (AEST)