Stuart Langworthy will be a very proud man when he leads out England in the World Nations Cup at St George’s Park next week.

Langworthy, who has done so much for Abbeymead Rovers over the years, is manager of England Over-60 men’s walking football team, a role he has enjoyed since 2017.

The three-day World Nations Cup for Walking Football gets under way on Thursday 24^th August and will also include a competition for over-50s.

And it’s fair to say that Langworthy is counting down the hours to the big kick-off.

“It’s the biggest walking football event in the world,” he told The Local Answer. “There will be 27 teams from 21 countries taking part in the two competitions.

“For me to be leading out England, it’s more than a dream, it’s beyond a dream.

“When I got this role five or six years that was beyond a dream. Since then we’ve played our first international, we’ve won the Euros and now we’re playing in the World Nations Cup, it’s awesome.”

And Langworthy isn’t the only person from Gloucestershire who will be at St George’s Park next week because the over-60s goalkeeper is John Hammonds, who plays for Abbeymead.

And there are two other players with close links with Abbeymead who are in the England Over-50 squad.

“Ed Lilley from Gloucester trains with Abbeymead and Weston-super-Mare, and the captain Steve Crilley, who is from Tewkesbury, also trains with Abbeymead and Weston-super-Mare,” said Langworthy.

Spain, Italy, France, Egypt, Rwanda, Nigeria, Wales, Japan and Canada are among the countries sending teams to St George’s Park.

Twelve of those teams are competing in the over-60s competition with Langworthy, who was recently awarded a British Empire Medal for services to football and walking football, explaining: “The tournament will be split into two groups of six with the top four teams from each going through to the quarter-finals. The semi-finals and final will take place on the Saturday.”

So are England the favourites?

“I would say we’re among the favourites,” said Langworthy. “There are a few unknown quantities. Japan for example – walking football is big in Japan.”

Rest assured England will be doing all they can to come out on top though.

“It would be a dream to win it,” admitted Langworthy. “It would be the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.”