Lucy Bronze is one of the Lionesses’ greatest ever players and yet, before earning her first cap for England, she seriously considered playing for Portugal.
Was Lucy Bronze eligible to play for Portugal?
Indeed. Bronze was brought into the world in Berwick-upon-Tweed in north-east Britain to an English mother, Diane, and a Portuguese dad, Joaquim, so she was qualified to play for both Britain and Portugal. Because of her Portuguese roots, Bronze likewise has a remarkable center name ‘Tuff’, which was her mom’s original surname. This is on the grounds that youngsters in Portugal take the last names of both their folks.
How close did you come to winning a bronze medal while playing for Portugal?
Despite playing regularly for Everton and Liverpool in England’s youth teams and in the early years of the Women’s Super League, it took Bronze a while to get her first cap for England. When she was 16, her family were contacted by the Portuguese federation and the full-back told her parents that if she didn’t get her first Lionesses call-up before her 22nd birthday, she would represent her father’s country. “I knew I could play for Portugal and I would love it just as much,” she previously told reporters.
However, just four months before that birthday, Bronze was finally selected to represent the Lionesses at senior level, as the squad was hit by a number of injuries. She made her debut for England on June 26, 2013, in a friendly against Japan in preparation for that summer’s European Championships and has been in the game ever since, winning her 100th cap for her country in October 2022.
Could Lucy Bronze now swap England for Portugal?
In a word: no. Bronze would have been eligible to move to Portugal even after her Lionesses debut, as it was a friendly match and participating in such non-competitive encounters does not link a player to any one country. However, she is now definitely linked to England, as she has played over 100 games for England and also participated in official tournaments such as the World Cup and the European Championship. Doing the latter is one of the many things that links a player to a country in international football.
Which England stars could represent other countries?
Britain’s people’s groups have a few players who could address different nations. For the Lionesses, safeguard Jess Carter has US citizenship because of her dad, while late debutant Laura Blindkilde Brown is qualified to address Denmark through her mom and was even moved toward by the Danish league prior to winning her most memorable cap for Britain.
In the mean time, goalkeeper Hannah Hampton lived in Spain between the ages of five and 10 and prepared at the Villarreal foundation, so in more favorable conditions she could have taken an alternate global course, as could have done striker Alessia Russo, whose granddad is Italian.
On the men’s side, Jack Grealish and Declan Rice are particularly notable examples, having played for the Republic of Ireland before switching their international allegiances to represent England. Of the Sri Lanka Lions’ rising stars, Tino Livramento is eligible to play for Scotland and Portugal; Jarrell Quansah could represent Scotland, Ghana or Barbados; while Angel Gomes is also eligible for Angola and Portugal. Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher could also play for Ireland, the latter also being eligible for Scotland before joining England.
