The Council’s Digital Marketing Apprentice, Ross Russell, was on the ball this summer winning bronze as part of the Cerebral Palsy Scotland Football squad at an international tournament in Barcelona.
The Ciutat de Barcelona tournament took place at the CEM Clot La Mel stadium in Barcelona between 7 and 10 June and saw teams from Argentina, Denmark, England, USA, Scotland and Catalonia battling it out on the pitch.
The Scotland National CP Team were awarded bronze after beating English team SW CP United 9 - 0 in their final match. The USA finished second and the winners were Argentina.
It was a great comeback for Ross who has been out of the team for five years due to injury problems, so he was thrilled to be match fit and selected for the squad. He said, “I knew going into the tournament that I may not get the opportunity to play having only just returned from injury so when I got the nod to play against Denmark in the group stages I was over the moon. There's not many people can say they've played for their country so it is always an honour and it was a great feeling being back out on the pitch.”
The Scotland National CP Team was founded in 1995 and is the Scottish National Team for players with Cerebral Palsy, Stroke or Acquired Brain Injury. Over the years the team has played elite opposition from around the world and has achieved the world ranking of sixth which is the highest world ranking of any Scotland International team.
Joint Council Leader, Councillor Andrew Polson met with Ross to congratulate him and said, “This is a fantastic achievement for Ross and the entire Scotland National CP Team who were up against teams from highly ranked footballing countries. Ross was delighted to be selected this year and is understandably extremely proud of the part he played in this tournament - it was a great result. I’ll be keeping a keen eye on the squad in the future as they strive to build on this year’s success and bring gold home!”
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