FIFA 2022 World Cup: the stars of England’s football team as pictured in the early days of their careers

Both Declan Rice and Jack Grealish previously represented the Republic of Ireland

Last month, manager Gareth Southgate handpicked 26 of the best English football players to be apart of his FIFA 2022 World Cup squad.

Fast forward and England are in Qatar preparing to play France in the quarter finals on Saturday (10 December).

The Three Lions finished top of Group B after beating both Iran and Wales, and drawing with USA. They then beat Senegal 3-0 in the knockout rounds which took place on Sunday (4 December).

Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling are competiting in the World Cup for a third time, whilst the likes of Jude Bellingham, Kalvin Phillips and Phil Foden are new to the stage of the biggest football tournament.

However, no matter if it’s their third or first World Cup, each football star started at the very bottom and had years of training in the youth academy’s across the county before making their senior teams debut.

Let’s take a look at where the 26 England World Cup players started off:

Kalvin Phillips began his senior career with Leeds United in 2014. He began representing England many years later, in 2020.

Kalvin Phillips (C) holds off Sam Hutchinson (L) during the Sky Bet Championship match between Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday on August 22, 2015 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Daniel Smith/Getty Images)

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