He only started training with the squad in January and will this week have the “huge honour” of leading the team out.

A Cambuslang man who has had two kidney transplants since the age of four will captain Scotland at this year’s Transplant European Football Championship.

Gregor Cleland only started training with the squad in January and will this week have the “huge honour” of leading the team out as they represent the country at a major tournament.

And the 40-year-old is determined not only to help Scotland cause a few shocks at the tournament in Oxford but to also raise awareness of what it means to be a donor and donor recipient.

He said “Our motto down in Oxford, is we’re doing it for the donors, we’re doing it for the donor families, and obviously our country. We want to make everyone that’s been involved in us still being on this planet proud, and represent the country; we’re representing the donor, the donor’s family and our families when we’re down there.”

And on captaining the side, Gregor said: “It’s a big honour, I was quite surprised because I was one of the newer people involved in the squad, but I’ve played amateur and stuff when I was younger so I’ve got a bit of knowledge of the game and I’ve always been involved in football, I’ve got coaching badges and all sorts.

“It’s a big honour to be getting involved no matter what, never mind being captain, that’s a huge honour.”

The first of Gregor’s transplants came when he was just a young child.

He said: “I’ve had two kidney transplants. One when I was four and one in 2008. I was just really unwell when I was younger, and you go to your GP, and whatever infection had, I ended up in Yorkhill, and they said ‘there’s some issues with you kidney and we’re going to need to transplant it’.”

After that first transplant at such a young age, Gregor remained as active as possible, and said: “The only thing I’ve not really been able to do is play rugby, I’ve done everything else any normal west of Scotland guy will do to be honest. That’s the beauty of the donor, that donor allowed me to do that. Obviously I was on dialysis before the transplant but other than that my life’s been as normal as It can be, as I knew how to. I didn’t let anything restrict me.”

And then in his early twenties, it emerged that Gregor was in need of another transplant.

He said: “My first transplant just started to fail. I was through in Edinburgh at uni, I noticed I was getting really tired, sleeping the majority of the day, not really focusing on classes, and just generally feeling really unwell. I was passing blood instead of urine, which is obviously a big sign.”

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Gregor was still under the care of the hospital and he added: “They started seeing me more regularly and then put me on the transplant list, and a couple of years later my brother actually gave me one of his kidneys.

“We were obviously a very close match. It’s not like the movies as in 20 minutes down the road that’s you got the kidney now, sorted. It’s a year,two years of blood tests, making sure the tissue type is right, you go through psychology tests as a donor as well.

“You’ve obviously gone through major surgery, so it’s a bit sore, I personally felt revitalised, I felt energetic straight away. You’re in hospital for a few days after obviously and then you’re back up, the hospital makes sure everything is right, blood checks have happened, you’re seeing the doctors more regularly just to make sure things are going the right way, and the kidney takes, the organ takes, for want of a better phrase.

“It can be a long arduous road as a recipient but I’m guessing it’s pretty similar for a donor. The donor sort of feels the opposite, they’re going from two functioning kidneys down to one, so I think it takes them a wee bit longer to recover, but generally speaking, you’re great.

“If there’s any doubt in your mind, you’re saving somebody’s life if you want to become a donor, you’re letting someone live that deserves it.”

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Midfielder Gregor has been involved with the Scotland team since January, when he first heard of them.

The team train at Ravenscraig in Motherwell and Gregor said: “I went down and absolutely loved it, joined in straight away, everyone was very welcoming, They’re a great bunch, we’re in this together and that’s the main thing. We are in it together for each and everyone that’s involved. We’ll work together and we’re going to fight for each other when we’re on the pitch down south. We’re not going down just to make up the numbers, we’re going down to give it a good shot.”

There’s a camaraderie that comes with being in any team but this Scotland squad has a special bond that unites them, with Gregor saying: “It’s quite strange, because you don’t really know these people and within 10 or 15 minutes you know exactly what they’ve been through. You’ve all been through a similar, if not identical journey.

“We are a big group of like-minded folk that love football, are interested in football, and all have a common bond of being an organ recipient of some sort. It’s not just kidneys, we’ve got folk who have received hearts, lungs, pancreas.”

In the round robin event, Scotland are up against Ireland, Wales, Italy, Spain and England.

Gregor said: “The support from everyone that we’ve spoken to has been phenomenal.

“It’s more we want to raise awareness of what being an organ donor can be, and can do for other people in this country, Obviously it’s a very scary thought, having to go through a major operation but it’s worth it, I’m going to say that obviously after someone saved my life, but it’s a tremendous honour to be involved in this Scotland team not only as a captain but a player in general to go down and represent Scotland, and we’re just trying to build it all up and make sure that we’re ready for the World Cup next year, because this is out first tournament ever.

“We’re not going down to make up the numbers, we’re going to go and see what we can do and hopefully cause a few shocks.

“We’re doing all we can to promote this and show what being a donor and being a donor recipient is all about. You’re saving someone’s life.”

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The mix-gender team currently consists of 28 players who are all the recipients of organ donation. The squad’s ages range from 26 all the way to 63 and they train twice a month at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell.

The Transplant European Football Championship will be held at Radley College in Oxford from April 2 to April 6 and be shown live on YouTube. Matches will see seven-a-side teams playing 20-minute halves with rolling substitutions.

The top three teams will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. The champions will be presented with the Transplant European Football Cup.

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