England goalscorers Declan Rice and Jack Grealish were booed during Saturday’s Nations League win in Dublin over the Republic of Ireland – who they both used to represent at international level.
Londoner Rice won three senior caps for the Republic and Birmingham’s Grealish played for them up to under-21 level, before switching to the nation of their birth.
Republic fans were understandably frustrated at losing two players that would have been key members of the team.
But what about the players England might have claimed but didn’t? BBC Sport looks at a selection.
Kasper Schmeichel was born in Copenhagen but spent a lot of his childhood living in England with father Peter playing in the Premier League – mainly for Manchester United.
In 2007, Peter said: “England is for English people, Kasper was born Danish, all his family is Danish and there is nothing that can make him English.”
Celtic’s Kasper, 37, has won 106 caps for Denmark.
Aston Villa right-back Cash was born in Slough and has spent his whole life in England.
He never got near an England squad and at the age of 24 he attained Polish citizenship through his mother and joined their national team.
Cash has won 15 caps and counting for Poland.
Now retired Morgan was a bit of a late bloomer with the most memorable spell of his career coming with Leicester City, where he won the Premier League title at the age of 32.
Morgan, whose grandparents were from Jamaica, was already a regular in their team at that stage.
He won the last of his 30 caps months after that 2016 title win.
Brentford centre-back Pinnock, 31, is a Londoner but has represented Jamaica, for whom he qualifies through his father, since 2021.
His only experience of playing for England was for their C side, a team made up of non-league players, against Estonia Under-23s in 2016.
Fulham left-back Robinson, 27, was born in Milton Keynes and raised in Liverpool, but decided to represent the United States instead. His father was born in England but was an American citizen, having grown up in the US.
Robinson turned down the chance to join up with an England Under-21 camp because the US had “showed more faith in me” having already capped him at Under-18 level. He has won 46 senior caps for the Americans.
With England struggling for left-back options at Euro 2024 and Robinson now an established Premier League player, he is one who they might feel got away.
Midfielder McTominay, who joined Napoli in August from Manchester United, was born in Lancaster but has a Scottish father – so represents them instead.
The 27-year-old said he had always wanted to represent Scotland, but did not play for any country at youth level.
McTominay was approached by Gareth Southgate in 2018 but chose Scotland and has won 53 caps.
Simone Perrotta (Italy)
Italy World Cup winner Perrotta was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, with his parents running a wine lodge in the city.
But they moved back to Italy when he was a child and he played for several Serie A teams, including Juventus and Roma, before retiring in 2013.
He played 48 times for Italy – including in their 2006 World Cup triumph.
There is a statue near non-league Curzon Ashton’s ground depicting the town’s three World Cup winners, England’s 1966 duo Geoff Hurst and Jimmy Armfield – and Perrotta.
Probably the most frustrating loss on this list for England is Bayern Munich attacking midfielder Musiala.
The 21-year-old, now considered one of the best players in the world, represented England from Under-15 to Under-21 level.
But the Stuttgart-born player, who was raised in England, decided to represent the land of his birth at senior level.
He is a fixture in the Germany team, with 35 caps to his name.
Bayer Leverkusen‘s Frimpong, 23, was born in the Netherlands and of Ghanaian descent.
But the right wing-back or winger has spent more than half of his life in the UK. His parents moved to England when he was seven and he spent almost 10 years in the Manchester City academy before playing for Celtic for two years.
He confirmed he was eligible to play for England but felt Dutch, not English – and made his senior debut for the Oranje last year.
“My grandmother is from England so I had the choice, but I’m from Wales and proud to be so,” said Bale, who went on to be one of Britain’s greatest footballers and a five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid.
Bale became Wales’ most capped player and highest goalscorer with 41 strikes in 111 games. He represented his country in three of the four major tournaments they reached in their history.
The former Tottenham player retired after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Manchester City striker Haaland, 24, was born in Leeds and would have been eligible to play for England had he chosen to.
And it could have been very different had his father Alf-Inge, also a City player, not had to retire at the age of 30. The family moved back to Norway when Erling was just three.
“You never know how it would be if maybe my father played longer in England, maybe I would be English, I don’t know,” he said.
“But yeah, I’m Norwegian and I’m proud of it.”
Haaland has scored 31 goals in 34 games for Norway.
Honourable mentions: Manuel Almunia, Wilfried Zaha, Evan Ferguson, Armando Broja, Folarin Balogun, Yunus Musah, Victor Moses, Giovani Reyna, Ashley Williams.
