Four Greek Australians have made it in the under 19s national squad, to play the COTIF U-19 International Football tournament held in Spain.

Goalkeeper Anthony Bouzanis has been chosen, one of the few players to be picked from head coach Paul Okon’s Young Socceroos Squad that recently competed at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.

Three out of the four international players picked for the team are Greek Australians, with Queens Park Rangers youngster Peter Skapetis, SS Lazio player Chris Ikonomidis and Stoke City’s Peter Makrillios taking leave from their pre-season training.

Coach Okon is looking forward to the start of the new FIFA U-20 World Cup qualification campaign.

“This is the first stage of a new campaign with a new playing group,” said Okon.

“We had originally planned to have a training camp prior to the tournament to have a look at a larger group of overseas based players to possibly have included in this squad, but due to a number injuries we have had to postpone that camp until later in the year.

“This will be our first opportunity to develop our playing style and test ourselves against quality opposition.”

This is the 30th edition of the COTIF Tournament and will involve ten U-19 Men’s National teams from Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Spain.

The full squad:
1. Anthony Bouzanis (gk) (Sydney FC) 2. James Baldacchino (Western Sydney Wanderers) 3. Nicholas Cowburn (Newcastle Jets) 4. Christopher Cristaldo (Melbourne Victory) 5. Matthew Davies (Perth Glory) 6. Ben Garuccio (Melbourne Heart) 7. Christopher Ikonomidis (SS Lazio, Italy) 8. Rafa Jimenez (Villarreal CF, Spain) 9. Hagi Gilgor (Sydney FC) 10. Awer Mabil (Adelaide United) 11. Peter Markillos (Stoke City, England) 12. Stefan Mauk (Melbourne Heart) 13. Jacob Mellin (Adelaide United) 14. Dylan Murnane (Melbourne Victory) 15. Christopher Naumoff(Sydney FC) 16. Peter Skapetis (Queens Park Rangers, England) 17. Nicholas Olsen (Western Sydney Wanderers) 18. Mitchell Oxborrow (Newcastle Jets) 19. Luke Radonich (gk) (Melbourne Victory) 20. Riley Woodcock (Perth Glory)