UK & Europe-based Australians out to impress in Netherlands

Twenty-two prospective senior men’s national team players of the future have gathered in Hoevelaken in Netherlands for a U23 Talent Identification Camp for players based in the United Kingdom and Europe this week.

The U23 Talent Identification Camp is an important milestone for Football Australia as the organisation continues to stand-up Australia’s national football teams at a variety of levels following interruptions to planned activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years. 

In mid-2022, the next generation of the Olyroos will feature at the AFC U23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan, while the Commonwealth Young Matildas will contest the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.

While these are two of the major tournaments in the pipeline for Football Australia at youth level, a variety of talent identification camps, elite matches, friendlies, and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifiers will be held throughout the calendar year as the Commonwealth Bank Junior Matildas, Young Socceroos, Joeys, Pararoos, ParaMatildas, and Futsalroos all return to (or in the case of the ParaMatildas commence) action.

This week in Netherlands players from clubs in Belgium, Denmark, England, Spain, Poland, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Scotland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Portugal will showcase themselves as the group train in Hoevelaken and play friendly fixtures against FC Utrecht’s U23s (Wednesday local time), and the Netherlands U19s (Friday local time).

Football Australia’s Head of Technical Direction, Pathways & Coach Education, Trevor Morgan, has been and will be assessing the players this week, with the help of Socceroos greats Paul Okon and Craig Moore. Okon and Moore – who share 80 ‘A’ international appearances for the Australia between them – have been on hand to offer guidance to the players both individually and collective and share their experiences based on decades of time in the game.

Of the 22 players in camp in Hoevelaken, nine (9) are participating in their first ever national team assembly, while dozens more players are being monitored across Europe, the UK, and in Australia.

The AFC U23 Asian Cup will be held in Uzbekistan in June this year, with Australia, who finished third at the last edition of the tournament in Thailand in January 2020 finishing third to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Men’s Football Tournament.

This year’s edition of the AFC U23 Asian Cup does not serve as the qualifiers for the next Olympic Games, however will be an important tournament as some of Australia’s best young players strive to progress their game against elite Asian opposition.

Australia has been drawn in Group B for the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 alongside Kuwait, Iraq, and Jordan. Australia’s group phase matches will be held on the 2nd, 5th, and 8th of June 2022.

The list of players participating in this week’s U23 Talent Identification camp in Hoevelaken can be found below.   

Australia U23 Talent Identification Squad | 21 – 26 March 2022 | Hoevelaken, Netherlands

Name

Club, Country

Junior Club (Member Federation)

Marco Arambasic

KV Mechelen, Belgium

APIA Leichhardt FC (Football NSW)

Hosine Bility

FC Midtjylland, Denmark

Croydon Kings FC (Football NSW)

Nicholas Bilokapic (Gk)

Hartlepool United, England

Sydney United 58 FC (Football NSW)

Thymos Caroutas

UE Cornella B, Spain

Wollongong Wolves FC (Football NSW)

Jacob Chapman (Gk)

Huddersfield Town AFC, England

Epping Eastwood Tigers FC (Football NSW)

Jordan Courtney-Perkins

Warta Poznan, Poland

Newmarket SFC (Football Queensland)

Alberto Del Grosso

US Cisanese ASD, Italy

US Cisanese ASD (Italy)

Tyrese Francois

Fulham FC, England

Campbelltown Uniting Church Soccer Club (Football NSW)

Doni Grdic

HNK Sibenik, Croatia

HNK Sibenik (Croatia)

Nikola Jadric

HNK Orijent 1919, Croatia

Belconnen United (Capital Football)

Alou Kuol

SV Sandhausen, Germany

Shepparton SC (Football Victoria)

Murray Miller

Rangers FC B, Scotland

Motherwell FC (Scotland)

Emile Peios

Sint-Truiden, Belgium

FC Bulleen Lions (Victoria)

Jordan Perez

AEK Larnaca, Cyprus

Bangor FC (Football NSW)

Cameron Peupion

Brighton & Hove Albion, England

Wakehurst FC (Football NSW)

Gabriel Popovic

NK Rudes, Croatia

Sydney United 58 FC (Football NSW)

Kristian Popovic

NK Rudes, Croatia

Sydney United 58 FC (Football NSW)

Jing Reec

AGF Aarhus, Denmark

Blacktown Workers FC (Football NSW)

Dylan Ruiz-Diaz

Uncontracted

AC United FC (Football NSW)

Ilia Shalamanov-Trenkova

FC Litex Lovech, Bulgaria

PFC Belasitsa Petrich (Bulgaria)

Aleks Taleski

Uncontracted

Green Gully SC (Football Victoria)

Ryan Teague

S.C. Covilha, Portugal

Maroubra United FC (Football NSW)