Switching allegiance is not news in contemporary football, and we’ve all heard of examples like Jack Grealish and Declan Rice. The two of them represented the Republic of Ireland at the youth level before choosing England as seniors.Therefore, it must have been dreadful for the Irish fanbase to see both Grealish and Rice scoring goals in a 2-0 away win in Dublin on Saturday.The ‘duo of traitors’ brush Ireland aside!However, only a very few know that those two are not the only well-known players representing England, although they were eligible for Ireland, too.The other two are Jude Bellingham and Connor Gallagher.What makes their cases even more bizarre is the fact they are actually Irish right now!They did it to exploit a La Liga rule, which says that clubs can have no more than five non-EU players registered in their squad. And with England no longer in the European Union, Bellingham’s Irish passport trick saved Los Blancos an extra non-EU spot. Gallagher basically did the same thing and applied for an Irish passport following his move from Chelsea to Atletico Madrid.Congratulations to Jude Bellingham on winning the Champions League with Real Madrid 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/WdAVhsAPd5— IrishPropaganda🇮🇪⚽️ (@IrishPropaganda) June 1, 2024 Bellingham qualified for citizenship and a passport of the Republic of Ireland through his paternal grandmother. He was even famously pictured wearing a full Ireland kit during his childhood.##NAJAVA_MECA_8318160##
