Special Olympics Gibraltar football team have been preparing for the Special Olympics five-a-side small nations football tournament which will be held in Liechtenstein from the 21st to the 23rd October. 

A statement from Special Olympics Gibraltar follows below:

The competition is for low/intermediate ability athletes and 8 teams will battle it out including Monaco, Luxemburg and the Isle of Man. The games will be played outdoors on a grass surface, and after the opening ceremony on Saturday morning there will be 2 divisioning games followed by the start of the round robin competition on Saturday afternoon. The group stage will be followed by the finals on Sunday afternoon, the awards and closing ceremony. There will also be time for the Gibraltar squad to explore some of Vaduz during their trip.

Representing Gibraltar will be Nolan Baglietto, Giovanni Yeo, Gianni Ochello, Francis Avellano, Nathan Borg, Liam Chipolina Gomez, Tyrone Davis and Lee Guerriero. The players will be accompanied by Head Coach Henry Danino assisted by coach Rafael Celecia and support Zeus Macho Vasquez. Annie Risso will be going as Head of Delegation.

The trip is being sponsored by the Gibraltar Football Association as part of their Football Social Responsibility Initiatives, and Finance Director Nathan Payas was there at the team training session last Friday to encourage the team on. Annie Risso said “Our footballers have been training hard for this tournament and are excited about the international competition they will face. They can’t wait to show what Special Olympic Gibraltar football is all about. We are so grateful to the GFA for their sponsorship and support for this trip, it makes so much difference.”