{"id":527894,"date":"2026-07-01T16:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/527894\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:44:17","slug":"englands-declan-rice-used-to-play-football-for-ireland-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/527894\/","title":{"rendered":"England’s Declan Rice used to play football for Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

England are warming up to play DR Congo in a World Cup knockout match, but did you know Declan Rice once played for Ireland?<\/p>\n

Declan, 27, played for Ireland before changing allegiances in 2019. He had famously won three senior caps for Ireland under Martin O’ Neill in 2018. <\/p>\n

So, with the World Cup in full swing, here’s everything to know about him…<\/p>\n

\"DeclanDeclan Rice #4 of England arrives at the stadium before the match between England and Congo DR at Atlanta Stadium. Pic: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Playing for Ireland<\/p>\n

Declan played for Ireland at the start of his career and made three senior appearances before switching to the England team in 2019. <\/p>\n

He followed in the footsteps of fellow England player Jack Grealish<\/a>, who won six caps for Ireland at under-21 level before changing to play for England in 2015.<\/p>\n

Declan was born in England, but because his grandparents are Irish, he was able to play for Ireland through his family connection. His father, S\u00e9an’s parents, Margaret and Jack, are from Douglas in Co Cork.<\/p>\n

\"DeclanDeclan Rice playing for the Republic of Ireland in 2018. Pic: INPHO\/Laszlo Geczo<\/p>\n

As well as playing for Ireland and England, Declan has played for West Ham and Arsenal, with his move to Arsenal part of a deal worth \u00a3105m (\u20ac124m).<\/p>\n

When the move was confirmed, RT\u00c9 raised eyebrows<\/a> by using footage of Declan playing for Ireland, with the video quickly going viral.<\/p>\n

Moving to England<\/p>\n

\"DeclanDeclan Rice playing for England. Pic: Julian Finney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Declan switched allegiances to England in 2019 when he was 20, saying at the time that it was the ‘toughest decision’. <\/p>\n

He told Sky Sports<\/a>: ‘It is the toughest decision I have had to make so far in my career. Being so young, I didn’t think I would ever be in a position to make that call, but it’s one that I have made and one that I am looking forward to in the future.’<\/p>\n

Although he moved to England, Declan won the FAI’s Young Player of the Year award in 2019. <\/p>\n

Declan’s family<\/p>\n

\"DeclanDeclan Rice of England and their partner Lauren Fryer, Denmark v England, UEFA European Championship 2024. Pic: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Since moving to England, Declan has become a big name in the game, but he’s also celebrated lots of milestones in his personal life.<\/p>\n

The footballer has been with his partner Lauren Fryer for several years, and they met while still teenagers. In 2022, they welcomed their first child together, a little boy called Jude.<\/p>\n

News of their son’s arrival was broken when Declan debuted a tattoo of Jude’s name and date of birth, August 7, on his arm.<\/p>\n

Standing up for his partner<\/p>\n

\"LaurenLauren Fryer, girlfriend of Declan Rice, attends the UEFA EURO 2024 group stage match between Denmark and England at Frankfurt Arena. Pic: Getty Images<\/p>\n

With fame comes lots of attention, and trolls have targeted Declan and Lauren over the years.<\/p>\n

As Declan’s profile on the pitch has grown, cruel trolls have taunted his girlfriend online, with some attacking her appearance and saying he could ‘do better’.<\/p>\n

Although some people did try to stand up for her and slam the trolls, the abuse got so bad that Lauren deleted her social media accounts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England are warming up to play DR Congo in a World Cup knockout match, but did you know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-527894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}