download All Football App

Ex-Tottenham defender Steven Caulker gets shock Sierra Leone call-up despite having one England cap

  /  autty

Former Tottenham defender Steven Caulker has received a surprise call-up to Sierre Leone's squad for this month's international fixtures.

The 29-year-old has been called up for the African nation's friendlies against South Sudan, The Gambia and Morocco.

It comes despite Caulker receiving one cap for England in a 4-2 loss to Sweden in 2012 in a friendly match where he managed to get on the scoresheet.

The match is remembered for Zlatan Ibrahimovic netting four goals including a long range overhead kick.

Caulker also represented TeamGB at the London Olympics in 2012 where they crashed out with a penalty shootout defeat to South Korea in the quarter finals.

The former Premier League qualifies to play for the country through his paternal grandfather who is from Sierra Leone.

He is allowed to swap countries under Fifa regulations as the cap came in a friendly and he never represented England in a competitive match.

His only England cap was one of six handed out by Roy Hodgson against Sweden with Raheem Sterling the only one to have a long Three Lions career.

Leon Osman, Ryan Shawcross, Carl Jenkinson and Wilfried Zaha also made their first starts, with the latter switching his allegiance to Ivory Coast.

Caulker was highly regarded after an impressive loan stint at Swansea during the 2011-2012 season.

He then left Tottenham for spells at Cardiff and Queens Park Rangers, suffering relegation with both sides.

Caulker also had a loan spell at Liverpool where he once played as a striker under Jurgen Klopp before joining Dundee.

Since 2019 he has spent his time in Turkey with a spell at Alanyaspor before joining Fenerbahce in June.

He is currently on loan at Turkish side Gaziantep who he has made four appearances so far.