By Kevin Kennedy

Scotland made it to another major tournament, not the World Cup in 2026, but in fact the 2025 European Powerchair Football Championships.  

The Scottish Powerchair Football National team made history in recent weeks as they attended their first ever major tournament in Venice Italy, with some players making their senior debuts at this prestigious event. Andrew Shaw was one of these players who pulled on the Scotland shirt to represent his country, as he recalled his emotions on how much it meant to him to play on such a stage. 

“It’s a massive honour to be selected to just be apart of the squad and be around the calibre of player that is here already in the squad, then to add it’s our first major comp just adds to the excitement…” 

From the start of the tournament, the high standards of competitiveness and professionalism was clear to see.  

“The level of seriousness from everyone is honestly incredible, my first taste of it was our first friendly… against the current world champions and eventually the tournament winners, France.” 

He elaborated,  

“…before games the players would go into dressing rooms for about 20 minutes or so playing music… trying to gain that competitive edge…” 

Although Powerchair Football is where extreme disabilities are common, the athletes within the sport always push themselves the extra 10%, and as we know with any national team football, playing for your country means so much more, even down to Scotland’s coaches who volunteer and give up their own time to allow people with disabilities to live out their dreams and play for their country on a global stage.  

“It’s very full on, but it’s the difference between a player and elite players when you can play twice in a day and also do a training session, in all honesty the coaches done a brilliant job preparing us for the chaos of the week during our training camps…” 

Andrew opened up on how he had to battle through adversity to make sure he could deliver for his country, with a great help with his family and friends.  

“It was an amazing experience not just as a player but as a person as well, getting injured after the very first game dislocating my patella was the hardest mental barrier I’ve faced as a player but persevering and eventually getting a chance to play in the final game going out on a high with the Scotland section going mental with drums and chants is the best feeling in sport, it’s right up there, I could not be more proud to represent my country but my captain Colin Shields who passed away earlier this year and who should of been with the boys at the European Championship.” 

Andrew had to generate his own funding to attend this major competition which is something he sees is vital to growing the future of the sport, as the president is now set for what the sport should be in Scotland. 

“We need funding majorly we are not funded or back in any way that is deserved we self-funded our way here and if we had some backing from the SFA or such we could do so much more as a nation.” 

Andrew explained how he hopes a tournament like this could be a springboard for future generations to get involved in the sport, as Powerchair Football is rare in the fact that it is the only specific sport for Powerchair users. 

“…we are a fast growing sport and the competition as a whole was very competitive and most importantly entertaining so I would hope the next Scotland captain was watching over the week of football…” 

Scotland, unfortunately, didn’t qualify for the World Cup this time round, but attentions now turn to the spring as the Scots look to secure their place at yet another European event. An experience like the one they have just had, will live long in the memory, not just for players, but for their families as well.  

An occasion like this, proves yet again that sport is no barrier when it comes to disability.