Australia’s national powerchair football team, the Poweroos, have completed their final selection camp in Sydney last weekend in preparation for the 2023 FIPFA Powerchair Football World Cup.
The event is the second football World Cup to be hosted on Australian shores in 2023, being held in Sydney between Sunday 15th and Friday 20th October.
The Australian team are highly rated on the internal stage having finished 4th at the third powerchair World Cup in Florida, USA in 2017.
Over 80 players from 15 clubs across six states and territories participate in competitive powerchair football in Australia. Over the last year eight national training camps have been overseen by Australian Head Coach Peter Turnbull and his staff. Turnbull has select a core squad of eight comprising a mix of six seasoned campaigners with World Cup experience together with two powerchair footballers who will make their international debut.
Head Coach Peter Turnbull indicated the squad has been preparing for this tournament for a number of years with COVID triggering a two year delay to the World Cup. The standard of powerchair football has improved dramatically with the recent Australian Club Championships in May 2023 delivering the closest results on record.
“We’re very excited to be hosting the 2023 World Cup on our own soil right here in Sydney. We want to be able to showcase to the Australian public and our football community not just what powerchair football is all about but also the strength and calibre of our players as they compete for their country” Turnbull said.
“We know our opponents have been preparing and will be just as determined to secure a positive result as we are. We are not expecting any easy games. The ten best countries in the world will be competing and we anticipate it will go down to the last round of matches to determine who makes it into the Semi-Finals.
“Whilst the squad is a mix of experienced and fresh faces, they have all be playing together or against each other for a number of years. We have a creative style of play which continues to evolve. It embraces both traditional sand dynamic structures ad is flexible to adapt to the strength of the players on the court and to adjust to the different opponents we will face”.
The final playing group reflects the strength of domestic competitions and its players. X of the players have travelled to previous world cups including the 2017 World Cup Most Valuable Player Abdullah Karim from Western Sydney Wanders and the Australian Captain Dimitri Liolio-Davis from Newcastle Jets.
“It is a massive honour and privilege to be able to lead the team at a World Cup on home soil. We have finished seventh and fourth at the previous World Cups and we are aiming to improve again in Sydney.
“We are looking forward to showing the country what we can do. We have a fantastic group of players supported by great coaching staff. We are hoping to do very well in the tournament with our first match in green and gold opening the tournament against Team USA” said Liolio-Davis.
The Australian Poweroos will open the 2023 World Cup against Team USA kicking off at 1pm at Quaycentre, Sydney Olympic Park, on Sunday 15th October. Tickets are free can be obtained by visiting https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1109018
| No. | Name | State | Club |
| 2 | Tristram Peters | QLD | Lions FC |
| 3 | Rebecca Evans | VIC | Melbourne City FC |
| 5 | Dimitri Lolio-Davis (Captain) | NSW | Newcastle Jets FC |
| 6 | Josh Merkas (Vice-Captain) | QLD | Brisbane Strikers FC |
| 7 | Abdullah Karim | NSW | Western Sydney Wanderers FC |
| 8 | Christopher Suffield | NSW | Hills United FC |
| 10 | Chris Turnbull | NSW | Hills United FC |
| 23 | Luke David | VIC | Melbourne City FC |
| 4 | Santo Bongiovanni (Reserve) | SA | Adelaide Comets FC |
| 11 | Ryan Seck (Reserve) | NSW | Newcastle Jets FC |
| Head Coach | Peter Turnbull | NSW | Hills United FC |
| Assistant Coach | Robert Wright | VIC | South Melbourne FC |
| Attacking Coach | Michael Suffield | NSW | Hills United FC |
| Defensive Coach | Dane Saunders | QLD | Brisbane Strikers FC |
| Manager | Skip Fulton | VIC | South Melbourne FC |
