West Ham United Academy duo Josh Briggs and Josh Landers have been called up for international duty, with Briggs receiving his first selection for Northern Ireland U21s and Landers representing Scotland U19s during the March international break.
Briggs, who celebrated his 19th birthday on Friday, steps up to the U21s age group for the first time, having previously captained Northern Ireland U18s and also featured at U17 and U19 levels.
The young defender has caught the eye since breaking into the West Ham United U21s starting XI, earning a Premier League 2 Player of the Month nomination after helping Mark Robson’s side go unbeaten in February with four wins and two clean sheets.
Briggs and his Northern Ireland teammates, including Patrick Kelly, currently on loan at Doncaster Rovers, will play three international friendlies in Turkey later this month, facing Ukraine U20s on 20 March, Uzbekistan U21s on 22 March, and Turkmenistan U21s on 25 March.
Landers, who joined West Ham from Hibernian in January, travels to Spain with Scotland U19s. The young striker has hit a rich vein of form since arriving in east London, netting four goals in five appearances for Lauris Coggin’s U18s, while also making his Premier League 2 debut under Robson.
Having narrowly missed out on the Elite Round of UEFA Euro qualification, lead coach Neil McFarlane is using this international window to prepare for next season’s qualifiers, with the majority of his squad born in 2007 and therefore eligible for the 2025/26 U19s campaign. Scotland will face Sweden U19s on 19 March and Poland U19s on 22 March.
Fixtures in full
Wednesday 19 March
Josh Landers | Scotland U19s v Sweden U19s - International Friendly - Pinatar Arena, Spain - 3pm GMT
Thursday 20 March
Josh Briggs & Patrick Kelly | Northern Ireland U21s v Ukraine U20s - International Friendly - Antalya, Turkey - TBC
Saturday 22 March
Josh Landers | Scotland U19s v Poland U19s - International Friendly - Pinatar Arena - 1pm GMT
Josh Briggs & Patrick Kelly | Northern Ireland U21s v Uzbekistan U21s - International Friendly - Antalya, Turkey - TBC
Tuesday 25 March
Josh Briggs & Patrick Kelly | Northern Ireland U21s v Turkmenistan U21s - International Friendly - Antalya, Turkey - TBC
