Former Wakefield Trinity player Dave Wandless is a World Cup winner with England

Wandless is vice-captain of England’s over 60s walking football team which triumphed in the World Nations Cup tournament that took place at St George’s Park.

There were 12 countries taking part in the event with the competition divided into two groups before knockout stages that led to a final in which England defeated France 3-0.

England took their place in group one along with France, Canada, Basque Country, South Korea and Japan while group two consisted of Italy, Wales, Northern Ireland, Caribbean, Czech Republic and Australia.

The England team won all their five group games to take a quarter-final spot against the Caribbean.

The game did not go ahead as a dispute between the Caribbean officials and the FIWFA resulted in the team withdrawing from the competition.

Wandless and his teammates went on to play Canada in the semi-finals and won convincingly, 7-2.

Italy were group two winners and looked impressive. They were paired with the Basque Country in the quarter-finals and came through 1-0 while France disposed of the Czech Republic.

Their semi-final was closely contested before France came out on top in a penalty shoot-out.

It was England v France in the Over 60’s World Nations Cup final and the hosts were confident having beaten the French 1-0 in the opening game of the tournament. It had been a close affair score wise, but they had dominated the game.

After the national anthems the game got under way and again England’s ability to keep possession and the ball away from France was key to getting control early on.

Great patience and pressure paid off as Graham Collier fired home the opener.

Five minutes later Spencer Pratten darted into space and was found with a perfect pass before he drilled the ball into the back of the net.

Collier got his second just before half-time to make it 3-0. This broke the French and became final score.

England managed the whole of the second half giving nothing away to claim the first ever FIWFA World Nations Cup for over 60s men.

The competition proved a big success and was so well organised that other countries are now looking to host it in 2025.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are front runners, but others are in the process of making bids.

England’s World Cup squad: John Sykes, Steve Slater, Dave Wandless, Spencer Pratten, Andrew Douglas, Graham Collier, Steve Borrow, John Hammonds, Milan Mazic, Steve Addcock, Tony Jones, Neil Evans.