England’s Defender Switches to Sierra Leone’s National Team

“I can confirm that the player’s status chamber of Fifa has just cleared Caulker to represent Sierra Leone,” the country’s football association president Thomas Daddy Brima told BBC Sport Africa.

Steven Caulker, a former England international, is now available for selection for Sierra Leone and could be considered for the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next month.

Although his grandmother is Scottish, the Gaziantep of Turkey Super Lig defender traced his ancestors to Sierra Leone through his grandfather.

Caulker participated in a Sierra Leone training camp in October and played in an unofficial friendly match against a Moroccan side of home-based players.

FIFA, football’s world governing body, gave the 29-year-old former Tottenham defender legal permission to represent the West African country on Friday, 17th December, 2021.

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Caulker earned his first cap for England in a 4-2 friendly loss to Sweden nine years ago, even scoring a goal.

After playing every minute of Great Britain’s campaign at the 2012 London Olympics, he was selected by the Three Lions.

The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) also announced that Dutch-born Issa Kallon had been given permission to switch allegiances and play for Sierra Leone.

The 25-year-old attacker, who plays for SC Cambuur in the Dutch top flight, has represented his country at every level from under-15 to under-20, but is also eligible for Sierra Leone because of his parentage.

If called up by coach John Keister, the duo might make their competitive debuts in the postponed Nations Cup finals in Cameroon.

Sierra Leone will compete in the Nations Cup for the first time since 1996, in Group E, against reigning champions Algeria, Ivory Coast, and Equatorial Guinea.

Sahr Jonathan Morsay, a midfielder playing in Greece, was also advised he can represent Sierra Leone without presenting papers.

Morsay was bred in Sweden and participated in friendlies for the Scandinavians at the Under-19 level, therefore he does not require official Fifa approval.

The 24-year-old, though, recently suffered a hamstring injury and is unlikely to be fit in time for the Nations Cup.

Source: BBC Sports Africa