I tried to add this one to Wikipedia but it was rejected as they didn’t believe me – Wikipedia are stuck up in their own ego thinking they know better than everyone else. They don’t – my posts were 100% correct so I’ll post it here instead and this means this page has more authority and honesty than “Dick”ipedia. This is a list of Northern Ireland international footballers who have represented Northern Ireland/Ireland (the 1880 original Ireland) at full level but were born outside Northern Ireland. B internationals, under 21s etc. are not counted. I also haven’t updated those born in the Republic of Ireland, as there are way too many of them.
This list is incomplete, but I will gradually get it updated. England is perhaps not surprisingly the country that has provided the most Northern Ireland internationals born abroad. English born players have also represented Wales, Republic of Ireland and Scotland to name but a few.
- Canada
- England (to be updated)
- Cecil Allan
- Adam Barton
- Kingsley Black
- Alex Bruce
- Michael Bryan
- Lee Camp
- Dion Charles
- Adrian Coote
- Aidan Davison
- Jack Davidson
- Tommy Doherty
- Iain Dowie
- Allan Elleman
- Billy Galbraith
- Rory “Johnny” Gorman
- Will Grigg
- Colin Hill
- Lee Hodson
- Kevin Horlock
- Michael Ingham
- Iain Jenkins
- Jordan Jones
- Jamal Lewis
- Rory McArdle
- Jon McCarthy
- Lee McEvilly
- Billy McKay
- Bernard McNally
- Joshua McQuoid
- Chris Nicholl
- Ian Nolan
- Oliver Norwood
- Martin Paterson
- Bailey Peacock-Farrell
- James Quinn
- Ben Reeves
- Jack Reynolds
- Lawrie Sanchez
- Peter Scott
- Danny Sonner
- Adam Thompson
- Kyle Vassell
- Jamie Ward
- Conor Washington
- Peter Watson
- Mark Williams
- Paul Williams (debated)
- Danny Wilson
- Kevin Wilson
- Guernsey
- – Ryan Zico Black
- India
- William Eames
- Billy McWha
- Jersey
- Lithuania (formerly part of Russia and USSR)
- New Zealand
- George Moorhead
- Norway
- Republic of Ireland (to be updated)
- Bud Aherne
- Jimmy Balfe
- Patsy Gallagher
- Scotland
- Danny Hegan
- Ali McCann
- James McPake
- Paul Paton
- South Africa
- – Pat Kelly
- – Dudley Milligan
- USA
– Billy Andrews - Wales
- West Germany
- Zambia
Also in 1998, Dele Adebola (born in Nigeria) was included in the Northern Ireland squad to face Slovakia at Windsor Park. Adebola was included in the squad and was also in the match programme, though he never played for Northern Ireland.
Note: A total of 124 players’ birthplaces remain untraced at this time, the majority from the earliest days of the Ireland national team. It is possible that a small number of these will have been born outside of (Northern) Ireland.