A YOUNG footballer feels proud to be selected to play for a team 5,422 miles away.

Reef Peries, 18, who has played for Ascot United since he was seven-year's-old is now going to play for the Sri Lankan National Team.

His dad Darren Peries said: "I am a very proud man and he gets to represent a country we are very proud of. My father would have loved to have seen this. All we have to do now is ask the head master time off during his A Level exams."

Reef was found by the Sri Lankan football federation after downloading an app called AiScount, that finds amateur football players all over the world by data.

The previous head coach watched him play and he was invited to trial for the men's team, making it through to the selection stage in October 2019.

However, due to a new head coach coming in from Europe Reef was requested to attend the National Training camp in Sri Lanka over the last two weeks.

Mr Peries added: "The day he was returning to the UK the Head coach Amir Alagic confirmed he had made the squad to represent Sri Lanka in the up-coming World Cup Qualifiers, against North Korea, South Korea, Lebanon & Turkmenistan." Reef will now have the opportunity to play against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur star Son who also captains for the South Korea national team.