A UNIVERSITY of Worcester Sports student and a Worcester City footballer will be representing England at international level, at the World 5's Futsal Tournament in Malaysia next week.

Sports student, Shane Gill and City midfielder Nick Colley have been selected as part of a 13-man squad to play in the week-long competition in Kuala Lumpur.

Futsal, a five-a-side game, supported by FIFA and UEFA, is played with a heavier and smaller version of an 11-a-side football and is viewed on the world stage as a way to improve creativity, dribbling, close ball control and passing techniques.

Although the game is relatively new to the United Kingdom, it receives a massive following across the world, with hotbeds in Brazil, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

It is credited with developing the skills and talents of world class footballers such as Por-tugal's Luis Figo and Ronaldo and Brazilians Ronaldinho, Robinho and Roberto Carlos, who were all involved in the game from an early age.

England's team, including Worcester students Gill, aged 20, and City's Colley, 33, have been drawn in Pool A', along with South American experts Argentina, Asian newcomers Indonesia, Australia and hosts Malaysia.

The draw means they avoid the might of Brazil and Europe's other representative Holland. England's opening match is against Argentina on Tuesday.

Centre-forward, Gill, who recently played as part of a University of Worcester Fut-sal team which reached the finals of the British Univer-sities Futsal competition, was selected by England Futsal head coach Graeme Dell after impressing in recent trials at Lilleshaw.

He is only one of two students to be chosen in the squad, which is otherwise made up of semi-professional players from teams including Worcester, Gloucester City, Team Bath and AFC Telford United.

"It's great to be representing England in a world-wide competition and I'm hoping this tournament will begin to raise the profile of Futsal in the UK," said Gill.

University of Worcester's Craig Williams, who has helped to establish a Futsal team and Futsal coaching at the University, said; "Futsal is becoming a really popular University sport and it's a great way to really perfect and improve your skills, creativity and overall football techniques."