Victory Shield
Northern Ireland v Scotland 
Tramore AFC, Waterford
Sunday, 30 October 2022 (2pm kick off)

Victory Shield 
Wales v Scotland
Waterford RSC, Waterford
Tuesday, 1 November 2022 (2pm kick off)

Victory Shield
Scotland v Republic of Ireland 
Waterford RSC, Waterford
Friday, 4 November 2022 (2pm kick off)

Stuart Glennie has today named his Scotland Under-16 squad that will travel across to Waterford at the end of the month to compete in this year's Victory Shield.

Having shared a joint-victory in the prestigious competition last year, the young Scots will be hopeful of going one better when this year's tournament gets underway. 

Glennie's side begin their campaign against Northern Ireland on Sunday, 30 October, before taking on Wales on Tuesday, 1 November

They then round off the tournament in the final match against hosts, Republic of Ireland on Friday, 4 November.

Head coach's thoughts 

Stuart, this is your first time leading a team in the Victory Shield, but you’ve been involved a number of times before as a coach.

This is the first time I’ve done it as head coach, I’ve been involved in the Victory Shield before as a coach – this is about my fifth year now. The last few have been with Stuart McLaren and I’ve been with James Grady previously. We always come into it knowing we’ve got players who want to do well in the tournament but ultimately it’s about us trying to make sure we can identify the best players who are then going to go forward and play in the European Championships at Under-17 level.

The selection is very difficult. I’ve found as a head coach how very difficult it is to go and select because we’ve got a lot of good players out there.

How have the preparation gone for this year’s competition?

It was probably last year when we started looking at the group of players at this age bracket across the clubs and then our first camps were around about March so it’s been a process for us to get to this stage.

Our recent double header against Denmark in Spain was great and now we’re going to the Victory Shield which has obviously got a bit of a prestigious history to it.

We obviously want to do well in the tournament but it’s very early in our stage as a select group of international players.

It’s a competition with a long history, is that something you always appreciate?

It very much is a prestigious tournament so from that point of view, when you look at the famous shield and look at how far it goes back, you see how much history it has. We did well last year and it’s always a good tournament for us to go and play against other nations in a week-long intense environment - it’s great for the players development.

I imagine it will be a proud moment for the players who are involved in the matches?

It always is – even in the recent game against Denmark for the Under-16s, they’re walking out to sing the national anthem for the first time and playing for their national team for the first time so it’s a huge occasion for families and the players.

It’s huge and sometimes when you’ve been involved in it for so long, you forget the fact that these guys are pulling on the Scotland strip for the first time – there’s real pride in it. For me, it’s often when you see the parents and the families come to watch them, you realise how hard these young kids have worked.

In the recent history, we’ve seen players play in the Victory Shield before going on to play at the highest level - that much inspire the players in this group.

There’s plenty, even if you talk about Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour – those guys played in the Victory Shield and the likes of Dean Campbell, Calvin Ramsay and Ben Doak - they were all playing in the Victory Shield over the last number of years.

Some have gone from Under-16s, Under-17s, Under-19s, Under-21s and then the Men’s A squad so it’s great that there’s that pathway but we’re also aware that some might not be a part of the Victory Shield squad – they might go straight into our Under-17s or into our Under-21s squad because they develop at a later stage.

We’re just trying to find out what is the best pathway for everyone. We have some players in the squad from Scottish FA JD Performance Schools who have come in at 11 and 12-years-old. However, we of course want to give chances to the players who have the most potential and the ones who are the best players, whether they are at Performance Schools or not.

Squad 

Ollie Ecrepont* Ayr United 
Alfie Halliwell Rangers 
Cameron Scott Rangers
Finlay Hale Celtic
Victor Enem* Aberdeen
Ben Brannan* Kilmarnock
Jack Wylie Rangers
Ronan Ferns Celtic
Gregor Burn Heart of Midlothian
Sam Chambers Leeds United
Gus Stevenson Heart of Midlothian
Aidan Borland Celtic
Jack Fletcher Manchester City
Tyler Fletcher Manchester City 
Aidan McGinlay* Partick Thistle
Joshua MacDonald* Hamilton Academical
James Wilson Heart of Midlothian
Josh Landers Hibernian 
Josh King Leicester City
Lewis Pirie Aberdeen