Gunnar Nielsen’s Premier League profession was transient.
Extraordinarily transient, actually: it lasted 17 minutes. The goalkeeper was launched as a late substitute for Manchester City towards Arsenal in 2010 after Shay Given had aggravated a shoulder harm he picked up per week earlier when diving in useless for Paul Scholes’s late winner within the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless it was an enormous deal again house. These 17 minutes represented the primary — and solely — time a participant from the Faroe Islands had performed within the Premier League. It was such an enormous deal {that a} native radio station couldn’t even wait till the sport had completed to name his brother for some response. Fortunately, Nielsen saved a clear sheet, avoiding the decidedly awkward prospect of his brother having to supply some reside, on-air touch upon an embarrassing blunder.
“He was so nervous he couldn’t say a phrase,” Nielsen says now. “He simply gave the cellphone to my sister-in-law.”
Nielsen is a part of an uncommon little membership of gamers, a bunch that was joined not too long ago by new Metropolis signing Abdukodir Khusanov, the defender from Uzbekistan: they’re two of 18 males to be the one gamers from their respective nations to make an look within the Premier League.
Neilsen made his solely Premier League look in April 2010 (Neil Tingle – PA Photos through Getty Photos)
In order you’ll be able to think about, it was fairly huge information within the Faroes when Nielsen made his look. TV and radio protection was a given, however his virtually literal quarter-hour of fame was the speak of the city. “I spoke to a bouncer at a nightclub who I knew,” Nielsen says. “He stated the one factor all people spoke about on that Saturday night was how I made my look within the Premier League.
“It was such an enormous factor when it occurred. I keep in mind individuals had been sending me footage and texting me and calling me — to this present day I meet individuals who nonetheless say they keep in mind the place they had been at that precise time after I got here on.”
Khusanov is the second participant to affix the membership this season, after Ipswich Town striker Ali Al-Hamadi turned the primary Iraqi to grace the division when he got here on within the opening sport of the season towards Liverpool.
For the sake of completeness, the others are: Victor Wanyama (Kenya), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Armenia), Onel Hernandez (Cuba), Junior Firpo (Dominican Republic), Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (Guatemala), Danny Higginbotham (Gibraltar), Ryan Donk (Suriname), Ali Al-Habsi (Oman), Jordi Amat (Indonesia), Hamza Choudhury (Bangladesh), Dylan Kerr (Malta), Mbwana Samatta (Tanzania), Frederic Nimani (Central African Republic), Neil Etheridge (Philippines) and Zesh Rehman (Pakistan).
By definition, the nations on that checklist are usually not conventional soccer powerhouses. Among the gamers had a slight leg-up, provided that they had been born and raised in larger or extra recognisable soccer environments, however performed for an additional nation attributable to a familial connection. Amat, Choudhury, Rehman, Etheridge, Hernandez, Firpo, Mendez-Laing, Higginbotham and Donk fall into that class.
However a few of the others grew up in environment the place there merely weren’t any function fashions to point out them the trail to one in every of Europe’s huge leagues. They’re trailblazers.
“It’s good to see somebody that’s carried out it earlier than,” Nielsen tells The Athletic. “We’re carefully related to Denmark, so that you’re wanting as much as gamers from there, however (not having a Faroese instance) didn’t make it simpler. There hadn’t been anybody within the Premier League from the Faroe Islands, and regardless that there have been some younger gamers who had been on youth contracts at some Premier League golf equipment, there wasn’t anybody to look as much as in that sense.”
Wanyama didn’t have a compatriot to point out him the trail to the Premier League both however he was fortunate in that he, not less than, did have some extra speedy function fashions, similar to his brother, McDonald Mariga, who joined Parma in Serie A when Wanyama was 16. Earlier than that, Wanyama adopted Mariga to Helsingborgs in Sweden, briefly returning house when the elder brother went to Italy, earlier than correctly beginning his European journey with Beerschot, in Belgium. It additionally didn’t damage that his father, Noah, performed for and coached Nairobi-based facet AFC Leopards.
Wanyama enjoying for Tottenham in 2019 (Shaun Botterill/Getty Photos)
“I grew up in a soccer household,” Wanyama tells The Athletic. “I used to observe the Premier League — I grew up watching these video games. Once I was 11, I used to be already dreaming about being there someday. I cherished Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.
“My father was a coach, my brother performed: it was one thing very deep. It was in our blood. I wished to play on the largest stage. I used to be conscious the Premier League was the hardest league on the planet. I knew it will be robust to get into, which motivated me.”
Etheridge’s state of affairs was barely completely different. Born and raised in England, the goalkeeper certified to play for the Philippines via his mom. He would journey to the Philippines pretty often rising up however, for numerous causes, didn’t return for years. Then, at 18, his former team-mates within the Chelsea youth group and Filipino internationals James and Phil Younghusband recommended him for a spot within the squad too. He made his debut in 2008, has clocked up greater than 80 caps and was named nationwide group captain in 2022.
Neil Etheridge in motion for Cardiff towards Manchester Metropolis in 2019 (Oli Scarff / AFP)
“I simply felt a reference to the nation and the individuals,” Etheridge says from Thailand, the place he’s now enjoying. “The Philippines is an especially proud nation. The tradition and blood runs via you. I used to be solely 18, however I noticed an opportunity to make a change in a rustic that isn’t essentially football-orientated. Basketball is the No 1 sport. Again then, soccer wasn’t actually a sport that was recognised.”
He’s not kidding. They’d sunk to 195th on the planet across the time Etheridge was first referred to as up, and had little to no report in worldwide competitors. Their highest rating within the intervening years of 111 may not appear nice, however they certified for the Asian Cup for the primary time in 2019 and made it to the second spherical of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, once more the primary time the group had gone that far.
Etheridge achieved most of this earlier than enjoying within the Premier League for the primary time, ultimately doing so in 2017 after profitable promotion with Cardiff. “It was a large deal,” he says. “Though it wasn’t as huge as if a Filipino performed within the NBA, and Manny Pacquiao is the No 1 sportsperson within the nation by a rustic mile. I used to be in all probability extra recognised as the primary South East Asian participant to play within the Premier League, reasonably than the primary Filipino.
“I’ve been in a position to do a number of first. In 2010, we reached the semi-finals of the South East Asian Cup (AFF Cup) for the primary time and that was when soccer blew up within the Philippines. Even now, 15 years later, it’s nonetheless in toddler phases, however it’s one thing I’m proud to be part of, to place soccer on the map within the nation.”
Nationwide id is usually a barely sophisticated, non-binary and typically fluid factor, so it’s value providing some parameters: the gamers are outlined as being ‘from’ their specific nation both in the event that they had been born there and haven’t represented one other nation, or if they’ve represented that nation at full worldwide stage.
There are some curiosities on the checklist. The Premier League has seen a number of gamers who had been born in Suriname and went on to signify the Netherlands (Regi Blinker, Edgar Davids, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink), however Donk, the one participant to signify Suriname, was born within the Netherlands.
A couple of on the checklist weren’t classed as being from their respective nations whereas enjoying within the Premier League. Higginbotham performed just a few video games for Gibraltar, however these had been a very long time after his Southampton/Sunderland/Stoke City pomp. Mendez-Laing’s debut for Guatemala got here when he was in League One with Derby, just a few years after his top-flight days with Cardiff.
Danny Higginbotham again in his enjoying days for Stoke Metropolis in 2010 (Mike Egerton/PA Photos through Getty Photos)
Then there are the gray areas, similar to former Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud, who’s counted on some lists as Syria’s sole consultant. He was born in Syria and raised in Germany, for whom he performed two friendlies in 2020 so was thus thought to be German whereas in England. Nevertheless, in 2024, he switched allegiance to the nation of his delivery and was referred to as as much as Syria’s squad… solely to tug out earlier than truly enjoying. He should signify them sooner or later, however we’re not counting him for now.
Then there’s Equatorial Guinea. Emilio Nsue, who was born and raised in Spain and made 4 appearances for Middlesbrough within the Premier League, performed 45 occasions for Equatorial Guinea between 2013 and 2024 and gained the Golden Boot on the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Nevertheless, he may not depend, as in 2024 FIFA dominated he had been ineligible the entire time.
Again in 2013, the Equatoguinean Soccer Federation utilized to their Spanish counterparts for Nsue to modify nationalities (he had made a number of aggressive appearances for numerous Spain youth groups), however to say the least there have been some irregularities with the method. They defaulted two 2014 World Cup qualifying video games attributable to Nsue’s ineligibility, however they saved choosing him anyway, and did so at numerous intervals over the next decade. It genuinely appears that FIFA solely seen attributable to his heroics at AFCON, at which level they declared his complete worldwide profession null and void.
So…does he depend? Are we getting right into a bizarre, metaphysical space by performing as if Nsue’s worldwide appearances actually by no means occurred, reasonably than administratively by no means occurred? In that case Pedro Obiang, the one different Equatorial Guinea worldwide, turns into the nineteenth particular person on this checklist. However for now, we’ll go together with tangible actuality and credit score Equatorial Guinea with two Premier League gamers.
In fact, the Premier League will not be the top for everybody. It’s not essentially the case that each participant slept on Barclays mattress sheets and their solely want as a child was to play in England.
Take Wanyama, for instance. “It was a much bigger deal to play for Celtic,” he says, “as a result of it was the group I grew up supporting. Significantly within the Glasgow derby.”
For many of those gamers, enjoying within the Premier League was a supply of private pleasure, however the hope is they are often the inspiration and function mannequin that they didn’t have after they had been youthful.
“With out eager to blow my very own trumpet,” says Etheridge, “if it wasn’t for me and the success I’ve had, there could be a number of soccer gamers who wouldn’t have had a profession within the sport. Lots of people wouldn’t even have identified that the Philippines had a group, if it wasn’t for the likes of myself, and the success I had later in my profession, enjoying within the Premier League, with the ability to actually improve our nationwide group. There are lots of people world wide who’ve determined to play for the Philippines as a result of they now know what the Philippines nationwide group is.”
Wanyama provides: “I’m proud if I’ve made younger gamers dream, to imagine in themselves that they might play within the Premier League someday. Now everybody desires to be there, and so they know the door is open to them. They imagine they’ll do it too.”
(High images: Getty Photos)
