Teammates, but rivals: When Palace players have met on international duty

Club

10 Jun 2025

Senegal's Ismaïla Sarr starts up against England's Dean Henderson and Ebere Eze at the City Ground in an international friendly tonight – but this won't be the first time we’ve had Palace players feature on either side of an international clash…

The match, which kicks off at 19:45 BST tonight (Tuesday, 10th June), can be viewed on ITV1 and ITVX in the United Kingdom, with all three Palace players named in their countries' starting XIs.

In recent years, there's been an uptick in Palace stars donning red and blue as well as their country’s colours, but back in the early 2000s it was a rare occasion for our Eagles to represent their nations – let alone for multiple to face each other.

One such occasion some 23 years ago in October saw none other than Palace legend Dougie Freedman come up against his fellow teammates Aleksandrs Kolinko and Andrejs Rubins as Scotland faced Latvia at Hampden Park.

Rubins, who spent three years in SE25 and scored an iconic goal against Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final, opened the scoring with a well-taken finish on a cut back 20 minutes in for Latvia in this crucial World Cup qualifier.

Remarkably, Freedman headed in on the stroke of half-time, past ‘keeper Kolinko, to level for Scotland before they eventually emerged 2-1 winners. As rare as it is to have two or more Palace representatives on both sides, to have both of them score is even more of a spectacle.

The duo of Rubins and Kolinko also faced another teammate in Aki Riihilahti when Finland hosted Latvia in May 2002 for a friendly. Amazingly, once again one of the three Palace players got on the scoresheet as Riihilahti levelled for Finland 70 minutes in.

Another Palace player in Shefki Kuqi went on to score the winner for Finland in the 83rd minute, though he wasn’t to arrive in SE25 until 2006.

A clash more closer to home which saw two Palace players involved back in February 2005 involved midfielder Carl Fletcher lining up for Wales against iconic goalkeeper Gábor Király.

The tracksuit bottom-wearing goalkeeper couldn’t keep out Fletcher’s Wales however, as they won 2-0 at the Millennium Stadium. Incidentally, former Palace man Rob Edwards and Danny Gabbidon - who would arrive at Selhurst Park many years later - were also involved for the Red Dragons that evening.

Sticking with Wales, former Palace shot-stopper Wayne Hennessey also faced his captain-at-the-time Luka Milivojević in a World Cup qualifier back in June 2017.

There was also fellow midfielder Joe Ledley for Milivojević to contend with in midfield, though the spoils were shared as the sides drew 1-1.

In a friendly prior to Euro 2016, England – then managed by Roy Hodgson – faced Australia where then Palace skipper Mile Jedinak captained the Socceroos against an England team which featured one of our own in Nathaniel Clyne. England went on to win 2-1, with both Clyne and Jedinak playing the entire game.

Palace heroes Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie both faced each other in a friendly, back in 2019. Zaha sealed the win for Ivory Coast with a third and final goal in a 3-1 victory, while Bolasie assisted the only goal for DR Congo after coming on at half-time.

This is a far from extensive look back at how both current and former Palace teammates have faced one another on the international stage.

But more recent years have seen Jordan Ayew come up against none other than Cheick Doucouré in 2020. In a friendly that was contested behind closed doors, the midfielder, who would go on to join the Eagles in 2022, registered his first-ever assist for Mali as they won 3-0 against Ayew’s Ghana.

At last summer's European Championship finals, Marc Guéhi and Ebere Eze – with Henderson and Adam Wharton also among the Three Lions squad – came up against Joachim Andersen and Denmark in a 1-1 group-stage draw.

And in a pre-Copa América friendly last year, Jefferson Lerma and Daniel Muñoz both started against Chris Richards as Colombia triumphed over the United States in Maryland.

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