The Australian Joeys, consisting of 12 AIS football scholarship holders, will look to get their Asian Football Championship (AFC) U-16 Championships off to a winning start when they take on Timor Leste in Uzbekistan on Monday. 

The top four teams at the AFC Championships will qualify for next year’s FIFA U17 World Cup which will be held in Mexico from 18 June – 10 July.

Joeys Head Coach Jan Versleijen believes his squad is capable of achieving World Cup qualification.   

“With the majority of the players coming from the AIS, I am very confident that we have the right group of players to achieve our goals at the AFC U-16 Championship,” Versleijen said

“Unfortunately, two years ago we didn’t qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, so our first goal is to do well in the group stage and then in the quarter finals to make the top four.”

“Playing competitive matches at these tournaments is very important for the development of these players and we are looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

The Joeys have been drawn in Group C alongside Timor Leste, Vietnam and Japan with the top two teams advancing to the quarter-finals.

They qualified for the AFC U-16 Championship after winning the Group H qualification tournament over Laos and Malaysia in Canberra last year.

QANTAS JOEYS SQUAD
AFC U-16 CHAMPIONSHIP - UZBEKISTAN 2010
24 October – 7 November 2010

Player Club or Institute
Nicholas ANSELL  Melbourne Victory
Kwabena BOAHENE  AIS
Corey BROWN  AIS
Samuel CHAPPLE  NSWIS
Connor CHAPMAN  AIS
Milos DEGENEK  AIS
Giancarlo GALLIFUOCO AIS
Benjamin GARUCCIO SASI
Paul IZZO  AIS
Jesse MAKAROUNAS AIS
Jacob MELLING  SASI
Jake MONACO  AIS
Hayden MORTON  NSWIS
Brodie PATERSON  AIS
Yianni PERKATIS  AIS
Anthony PROIA   AIS
Luke REMINGTON  NNSWIS
Daniel SADAKA  SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Lachlan TIBBLES  AIS
Abe WHEELHOUSE  NNSWIS
Jakob WILLIAMS  ACTAS
Riley WOODCOCK  WAIS
Kwame YEBOAH  QAS

Team Officials
Head Coach - Jan Versleijen (AIS)
Assistant Coach - Gary Van Egmond (AIS)
GK Coach - Ron Corry (AIS)
Recovery/Massage/Gear - Deane Stephens (SA)
Physiotherapist - Rob Hunt (AIS)
Doctor – Glenn Browning (NSW)
Technical Analysis - Peter Cklamovski (NSW)
Team Manager - Simon Roberts (FFA)