How Jobe Bellingham and four other Sunderland players fared on international duty

While Sunderland’s 2023/24 campaign ended over a month ago, some members of their squad have been away on international duty in recent weeks.

The Black Cats won’t have any players at this summer’s European Championships, although Callum Styles, who Sunderland have an option to sign permanently, has been named in Hungary’s 26-man squad.

Other international matches did take place before the tournament in Germany, including friendly and youth fixtures. Here are the Sunderland players who have represented their nations over the last month.

Trai Hume and Dan Ballard (Northern Ireland)

While Northern Ireland didn’t qualify for the Euros, they did play two friendly matches against Spain and Andorra this month, with Sunderland defender Dan Ballard starting both matches. The 24-year-old opened the scoring inside two minutes against Spain, before Michael O'Neill’s side were beaten 5-1 in Mallorca. Ballard’s Sunderland teammate Trai Hume also featured, playing 77 minutes against the Spanish.

Hume was then an unused substitute as Northern Ireland beat Andorra 2-0 three days later, with Ballard captaining the team in the absence of regular skipper Jonny Evans.

Jobe Bellingham (England Under-20s)

While making 43 Championship starts for Sunderland during the 2023/24 season, Jobe Bellingham also represented England’s under-19s side. The 18-year-old’s form resulted in him moving up to the Young Lions’ under-20s team for friendly matches against Sweden and the Republic of Ireland this month.

Bellingham started the match against Sweden, playing an hour as England won 2-1, and was an unused substitute as Ben Futcher’s side drew 2-2 with Ireland four days later.

Leo Hjelde (Norway Under-21)

Sunderland defender Leo Hjelde earned his 18th cap for Norway’s under-21s side, playing 45 minutes as the team drew 3-3 with Denmark in a friendly fixture.

Chris Rigg captained England’s under-17s side at the European U17 Championships in Cyprus last month. Greg Lincoln’s side were beaten on penalties by Italy in the quarter-finals.