A STALYBRIDGE teenager who dreams of becoming a professional footballer has been called up to represent Scotland.
Neve McDonald is currently taking her GCSEs in her final year at Longdendale High School in Hollingworth.
Away from the classroom, the 16-year-old started playing football at around six years old, attending Dukinfield Youth Soccer School on Saturday mornings.
She played for them at Under-8s and Under-9s level before moving to Stalybridge Celtic Juniors in the East Manchester Junior Football League.
After attending trials for Manchester City’s Under-10s Girls Academy, she successfully earned a place and stayed at the club for six seasons.
Last year, Neve made the move to Liverpool’s Under-16s and has just been given a two-year contract for their Under-21s team, which includes attending higher education on site at their Melwood training base.
Although she is on the English FA pathway, Neve recently received her first call-up for the Scotland Under-17s squad and attended a week-long international camp in Falkirk, where they played two games against a very tough Switzerland team.
Explaining how the opportunity came about, Neve’s dad Stuart McDonald told The Correspondent: “We simply sent an eligibility form to the Scottish FA, saying that Neve was eligible to play for Scotland, and they came back straight away to invite her to a training day the following week.
“One of Neve’s coaches at Liverpool, who is connected to the Scottish FA, said afterwards that they had been in touch with her regarding Neve and that she had been on their radar for a while.”
Receiving international recognition is the just reward for Neve’s commitment to date and the sky’s the limit for her career ambitions.
“Both myself and my wife Suzanne are incredibly proud of what Neve has achieved so far on her football journey,” Stuart added.
“She has and continues to show great drive and determination to achieve her goal of becoming a professional footballer – not to mention the sacrifices that she has made over the years.
“We are just waiting to see when the next camp might be over the next few weeks and months as there are Euro qualifying matches coming up towards the end of the year.”