For­mer T&T World Cup mid­field­er and Port Vale winger Christo­pher Bir­chall has joined City Of Stoke Foot­ball Club as Di­rec­tor of Foot­ball.

The 37-year-old Bir­chall came through the Port Vale youth sys­tem and went on to make 177 ap­pear­ances for the Vale, be­fore mov­ing on­to Cham­pi­onship side Coven­try City then mak­ing the move across the pond in with LA Galaxy and Colum­bus Crew in the US Ma­jor League Soc­cer, scor­ing 21 goals in 322 league and cup ap­pear­ances in a 16-year ca­reer.

On the in­ter­na­tion­al stage, the Stafford-born Bir­chall made 44 in­ter­na­tion­al ap­pear­ances for T&T, scor­ing four goals and played in the 2006 FI­FA World Cup in Ger­many.

Most re­cent­ly Bir­chall formed The Chris Bir­chall All-Stars Acad­e­my which has al­ready seen great suc­cess and up­take in par­tic­i­pa­tion for chil­dren 4-11-year-olds.

Bir­chall who re­tired in 2017 af­ter a stint with Kids­grove Ath­let­ic joins the City of Stoke FC in a Di­rec­tor Of Foot­ball role along with join­ing the se­nior men’s first man­age­ment team.

He will help the club con­tin­ue its good work help­ing the club push for­ward with its vi­sion bring­ing a wealth of ex­pe­ri­ence and knowl­edge for the game over a 16-year pro­fes­sion­al ca­reer and will be a mas­sive as­set to the club.

Speak­ing on Bir­chall ap­point­ment, chair­man of the City of Stoke FC Leigh Robin­son said he felt ho­n­oured and proud that fol­low­ing a great meet­ing with the for­mer T&T in­ter­na­tion­al they were able to reach an agree­ment for him to come aboard the CÖS jour­ney and help with the se­nior men’s 1st team project and help the club push for­ward with its as­per­sions of Step 6 foot­ball and fur­ther. The fu­ture is ex­cit­ing with more news to fol­low and de­vel­op­ments very soon.