Florent Hadergjonaj becomes first non-British Town player to face England
- Florent Hadergjonaj is the 13th Town player to face England
- Flo featured twice against Gareth Southgate’s side for Kosovo
- Find out which other former Town players appeared against England
Florent Hadergjonaj became the first Huddersfield Town player to play against England in a full international for over 48 years.
His two appearances for Kosovo in the European Championship qualifiers ended in a 5-3 defeat at Southampton on September 10 and a 4-0 home defeat in Pristina on November 17, but he thus joined a proud list stretching way back to 1911.
All in all, Florent is now the 13th Huddersfield Town player to have faced England, taking the combined totals so far to 27 caps and 7 goals in 25 games.
He is also the first Huddersfield Town player to represent a country against England from outside the British Isles.
Northern Ireland has supplied the most with six - Bill Hayes, Harry Baird, Peter Doherty, Johnny McKenna, Charlie Gallogly and Jimmy Nicholson. Nicholson was in fact the last Town player to face England prior to Hadergjonaj, playing in a 1-0 Home International Championship defeat in Belfast on 15 May 1971. He has also faced England five times whilst a Town player, more than anyone else, but unfortunately lost them all!
Otherwise Wales has supplied Charlie Morris, Wilf Lewis and Dick Krzywicki via Huddersfield Town, whilst Scotland’s representatives are David Steele and Alex Jackson. Bill Hayes also played for the Republic of Ireland in 1946, whilst Jimmy Macauley turned out for simply ‘Ireland’ before the Great War.
On 11 February 1911, Macauley, though, became Town’s first-ever player to face England, in a Home International Championship game played at Derby’s former Baseball Ground. Playing for Ireland he netted his team’s only goal, a last-minute consolation, in a 2-1 defeat. Such has been England’s dominance over the years however that in the 25 games involving opposing Huddersfield players, the English have won 18 times, drawn three, and lost only four.
Alex Jackson has the best ‘Town’ record against England winning three of his four games and scoring four goals in the process. This included a hat-trick in Scotland’s 5-1 victory at Wembley in March 1928 when the ‘Wee Blue Devils’ (so called for the Scottish team’s diminutive stature) ran riot! Prior to this he had also scored in a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in April 1926.
Other Town players to net against England are Peter Doherty, who scored a dramatic last-ditch equaliser for Northern Ireland in a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park on 5 November 1947, and Dick Krzywicki of Wales. Dick’s goal came on 18 April 1970 in a 1-1 draw at Cardiff’s old Ninian Park ground, putting his side ahead in the first half. This remains the last goal scored by a Town player against England.
