Northern Ireland v Austria

DID YOU KNOW? RECORD BREAKER STEVEN DAVIS *

Words Marshall Gillespie

By the time you read this Steven Davis will have, hopefully, made his 120th appearance for Northern Ireland. In overtaking Pat Jennings’ long standing record he will, along with Wayne Rooney, be the second highest capped player ever in the United Kingdom, leaving him just five shy of the overall record held of course by England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. He is also one of only 13 players to have made 100-plus full international appearances for one of the home nations. The full list is: Peter Shilton England 125 Wayne Rooney England 120 Steven Davis Northern Ireland 119 Pat Jennings Northern Ireland 119 David Beckham England 115 Steven Gerrard England 114 Aaron Hughes Northern Ireland 112 Bobby Moore England 108 Ashley Cole England 107 Bobby Charlton England 106 Frank Lampard England 106 Billy Wright England 105 Kenny Dalglish Scotland 102

Davis won his first full international cap against Canada when he was an Aston Villa player back in February 2005; he eventually went on to make another 19 appearances for his country while at Villa Park. His next stop was Fulham and Craven Cottage where he played under former international boss Lawrie Sanchez and where he won a further six international caps. The now 35-year-old clocked up another 55 games for Northern Ireland during seven years at Southampton and a further 38 matches over two separate spells with his current employers Rangers.

*All statistics were correct prior to Northern Ireland’s UEFA EURO 2020 Path B Play-Off Semi-Final against Bosnia and Herzegovina last Thursday.

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