Futsal may not be a sport followed by many in England but it is definitely on the rise, and Millom’s Liam Brockbank will find out tomorrow just how it feels to represent your country.

The sport itself is a small-sided variant of football, which is played indoors with a slightly smaller and heavier ball and has each team consist of five players.

Even though Brockbank may have not made his first start for England’s under-21 team yet, he cannot wait to get involved and his previous experiences on the football scene can only help ahead of his debut.

Brockbank said: “I got an email after I’d been released by Carlisle telling me about a trails day at St. Georges’s Park for England futsal.

I thought it would be a great opportunity to go down there and play, knowing no matter what the outcome would be, I would still enjoy it.”

He had spent most of his youth at Carlisle United’s academy before being released during the summer and joining ex-Cumbrians captain Danny Grainger at Workington, where he has been a revelation in the left-back position so far for the Reds.

Brockbank said: “They were 20 lads all in the same situation as me and one of them had been with me at Carlisle. I thought I’d played alright at the trial and the boss Mike Skubala spoke to me throughout the day asking if I had any

On how he found out about his international call-up, he said: “A few weeks after the trial, Mike phoned me asking if I fancied training with the side a few times before the end of the year.

“I still haven’t actually started a futsal game, but I got the email on Monday congratulating me on my call-up for the game against Loughborough tomorrow and I’m just excited for it, really.”

Brockbank will be hoping he can follow the path of current England futsal player Max Kilman, who has recently been involved in Europa League football for his club Wolverhampton Wanderers, as he looks to break into the futsal scene.