Northern Ireland’s Cerebral Palsy team is counting down the hours to this weekend's World Cup Finals kick-off.
The prestigious tournament gets under way in Spain on Sunday, May 1.
Team boss Alan Crooks has assembled an 11-strong squad to compete at the 15-team finals in Salou.
Read more: Linfield fan living in Kuwait travels 3,200 miles to watch title decider
The Northern Ireland team have been training at their base in Catalonia but are without experienced player Matthew Gildea who was forced to withdraw from through injury.
Crooks' side, currently ranked 20th in the world in the seven-a-side Cerebral Palsy game, have been drawn in Group D along with tournament hosts Spain, Ukraine and Argentina.
Spain play Ukraine on Sunday in the tournament curtain raiser, while Northern Ireland’s first group game will see them take on Argentina on Monday (May 2).
Northern Ireland will then face Ukraine next Wednesday and their final group game is against Spain on Friday, May 6.
The final group placings will determine who proceeds to the quarter-finals and who plays for an overall placing between 9th and 15th.
This year will be Northern Ireland’s third appearance at the CP Football World Cup organised by the International Federation of CP Football (IFCPF). They finished in 14th place in England in 2015 and 11th in Argentina in 2017.
“We have a difficult group but we are looking forward to the challenge ahead,” said Crooks.
Four members of the squad – midfielder and captain Jordan Walker, strikers Jordan Cush and Ryan Walker and defender Charlie Fogarty – have played in the previous two World Cups.
And defenders Shea Tighe, Sean Coyle and Ryan Neill all have experience from the World Cup in Argentina in 2017 and/or the European Championships in Holland in 2019.
Making up the rest of the squad are young goalkeepers Harry Willis and Finn Mullan, defender Oisin McGurk and midfielder Declan McDonnell. All four have previously played in international friendlies but the World Cup will be their first taste of a major tournament.
Crooks’ backroom team in Spain includes former Northern Ireland international Mal Donaghy, who coaches the team.
Stephen Watson also undertakes coaching duties, while Lee Rutherford is the goalkeeping coach.
Steven Conlan is the team’s strength and conditioning coach and Andrew Harwood is the physiotherapist.
Read more: Glentoran boss Mick McDermott hints at quieter transfer window as he assesses squad
Read more: Barry Johnston offers final-day conundrum for Linfield as he makes title prediction
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
