Declan Rice wins Republic of Ireland’s young player of the year award one month after switching to England

Rice, 20, was an Ireland international with three caps at the time of the vote but all his appearances had come in friendlies, allowing him to change team and represent England, which is the country of his birth

Shrivathsa Sridhar
Tuesday 12 March 2019 17:32 EDT
Comments
West Ham’s Declan Rice commits international future to England despite three Republic of Ireland caps

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has been named Ireland’s Young Player of the Year a month after he switched allegiance to England, the Football Association of Ireland has said.

Rice, 20, was an Ireland international with three caps at the time of the vote but all his appearances had come in friendlies, allowing him to change team and represent England, which is the country of his birth.

Rice announced the move last month, describing it as “an extremely difficult decision”, before the change was confirmed by world soccer’s governing body Fifa on 5 March.

The FAI International Awards will be held on Sunday.

England manager Gareth Southgate is set to name his squad this week for Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Montenegro later this month, and Rice is expected to be included.

Reuters

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in