The Football Association of Ireland is delighted to announce that the Paralympic Football Team under the management of Paul Cassin are participating at the 2010 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester this week.

The team is part of the FAI's football for all programme which provides opportunities for players with a range of disabilities to represent Ireland on the international stage.

The Paralympic Football Team is an FAI senior international team which plays 7-a-side football on an international circuit involving 20 countries in total. Ireland is currently ranked 5th in the world.

The team is comprised of a 12-man squad who gain entry into squad as a result of having a physical disability called Cerebral Palsy. Last weekend, squad members visited Gannon Park in Malahide and received good wishes from the senior squad for the tilt at World Cup glory.

The long term vision for the squad is to medal for Ireland at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

The team opened their campaign on Wednesday with a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands, followed up by an emphatic 5-2 win over United States. Paul Cassin's side face Great Britain on Friday aiming to qualify for Saturday's final.

Paul Cassin, team manager said: "The 2010 Paralympic World Cup is a great opportunity for the lads to demonstrate their performance potential in front of some real stiff opposition.

"At the beginning of 2010 we started the implementation of an exciting high performance plan which has seen the guys move training base to DCU thus allowing us to access better facilities whilst trebling our training load. In addition, we have taken on 4 new staff including a sports psychologist, strength and conditioning coach, chartered physiotherapist and a sports nutritionist.

"The guys have responded to this change of approach with great skills and attitude and our recent performances at a 10-day camp in the Ukraine where we played 3 friendlies against the world champions Ukraine proves that we are on the right direction'.

The Paralympic World Cup is an annual World Class Multi-Sport Disability Event for elite international athletes, bridging the gap between the four-yearly Paralympic Games.

Oisin Jordan, manager of the FAI's football for all programme stated: ‘We are delighted to be part of the paralympic football team and to support their quest to medal at the 2010 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

"Disability football is on the rise in Ireland and we would like to offer many more players the opportunity to wear the green of Ireland whilst getting a full senior international cap.

"I would be delighted to hear from any interested player who has Cerebral Palsy and who may be interested in trialling for the Paralympic football team. My contact email is Oisin.jordan@fai.ie".