International preview: 15 Albion players on duty

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Matthew Bishop

2025-06-05T09:15+01:00

Pervis Estupinan's Ecuador face two World Cup qualifiers later this month.

Albion have 15 senior men’s players on duty for their countries over the coming days as the final international fixtures of the 2024/25 campaign are played.

World Cup qualifying continues in Europe with Jan Paul van Hecke, Mats Wieffer and Kjell Scherpen called up by Netherlands for their matches against Finland in Helsinki on Saturday 7 June and Malta in Groningen three days later.

There is also World Cup qualifying action for some of our South American contingent, although their run to next summer’s tournament in the United States is well underway with Argentina top of the CONMEBOL table with 14 matches played already.

Valentin Barco has been called up by the table-topping Albiceleste, who have also named Lionel Messi in their squad for the first time in seven months, with qualifiers against Chile in Nunoa on Friday 6 June and Colombia in Buenos Aires on Wednesday 11 June.

Ecuador sit one place behind Argentina in South American qualifying, and Pervis Estupinan will be hoping he can help La Tri close the gap at the top after being named in their squad for clashes against Brazil in Guayaquil on Friday and Peru in Lima on Wednesday.

Diego Gomez and Julio Enciso’s Paraguay also have crucial qualifiers coming up with the pair travelling in the La Albirroja squad for fixtures against Uruguay in Asuncion on Friday and Brazil in Sau Paulo on Wednesday.

Slightly closer to home, Jack Hinshelwood and Tommy Watson, alongside James Beadle, are part of England’s provisional squad for the under-21 European Championships while Tom McGill is in Canada’s provisional squad ahead of the Gold Cup.

Elsewhere it is just friendly action for our international contingent, with more than enough fixtures taking place to provide us with our football fix during the summer:

Simon Adingra/Ivory Coast: 8/6/25 v New Zealand (A), 11/6/25 v Canada (A)

Yasin Ayari/Sweden: 6/6/25 v Hungary (A), 10/6/25 v Algeria (H)

Evan Ferguson/Republic of Ireland: 6/6/25 v Senegal (H), 10/6/25 v Luxembourg (A)

Matt O’Riley/Denmark: 7/6/25 v Northern Ireland (H), 10/6/25 v Lithuania (H)

Abdallah Sima/Senegal: 6/6/25 v Ireland (A), 10/6/25 v England (A)