Victoria finish second in the Para Football Championships at the Gold Coast Performance Centre.
The matches were modified to play 7-a-side and 30-minute halves with players classified into three categories depending on their ability.
Football Victoria would like to congratulate the Victorian state team which consists of players with Cerebral Palsy, Brain acquired injuries, and Stroke related symptoms.
Team Victoria:
- Angus MacGregor (Captain)
- Christian Tsangas (Vice-Captain)
- Christian Bitisikas
- Cosimo Cirillo
- Joshua Beekes
- Constandinos Christodoulou
- Kaylan Van Heer
- Michael Faamausili
- Viv Wright
- Sabian Panozzo
- Adam Torey-Toth
- Oran Jones
In the Championship Final, Victoria succumbed to reigning premiers NSW Sky 7-3 in a hotly contested encounter.
A fantastic ball from Ben Atkins opened up the defence up for Connor Marsh to lay it off to Jeremy Boyce who opened the scoring NSW Sky 1-0.
Some goalkeeping heroics from Victoria's keeper Christian Tsangas denied Boyce's chance at doubling his tally for the day. Before a goal to Victoria’s Joshua Beekes saw them equalise in the early stages.
Beekes doubled his tally for the afternoon to give Victoria the lead, but once again NSW Sky found the back of the net, equalising with a long-range effort from Ben Atkins to send the game into the break 2-2.
Augustine Murphy stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to give NSW the lead once again after being brough down in the box by Victoria’s Constandinos Christodoulou.
Just when the game started slipping away, Victoria levelled the game once again through substitute Oran Jones.
With extra-time in sight, Daniel Campbell scored his first goal of the day with another long-range goal to make it 4-3. The Commbank Pararoo of the Year proceeded to double his tally soon after, getting on the end of a fantastic ball from Tim Blowes to make it 5-3.
Tim Blowes and Jack Williams finished off the scoring in the final minutes to end the game 7-3, with Football NSW Sky claiming the title.
The second-place finish in the National Para Championships was an improvement from the 2019 event where the Victorians came up short in the third-place playoff.