Ten members of West Ham United Academy’s U18s and U21s squads have been selected for international duty during the November international window.
The young Hammers' contingent are in action in FIFA U-17 World Cup and UEFA European youth qualifiers over the next couple of weeks in November. Here's a round-up of who's been called up...
Who has been called up?
Starting with the Young Lions, five West Ham United players have been called up across the youth age groups.
Three young Hammers feature in the U20s squad. Lewis Orford and Fin Herrick, who have over 30 youth caps between them for the 2006-born Young Lions, will be joined for the first time in the U20s camp by Academy teammate Josh Ajala.
Last season’s Premier League 2 Player of the Season nominees Herrick and Orford have been named in all three of Ben Futcher’s squads so far this season, while Ajala receives his first youth England call-up since making his debut at U19s level in September 2024.
The West Ham trio will be based at England’s national football centre at St George’s Park and will play one friendly fixture at Doncaster Rovers’ Eco-Power Stadium, against Japan on Friday 14 November at 7.30pm. Tickets for that game can be purchased on Doncaster’s website.
In the age group below, U21s captain Airidas Golambeckis, who featured on the bench for the first team on Saturday in West Ham’s 3-2 Premier League win over Burnley at London Stadium, was called up for the U19s camp in Lithuania.
Golambeckis features once again in a highly talented U19s group featuring the likes of young Premier League stars Max Dowman of Arsenal, Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool and Chris Rigg of Sunderland.
Announcing you U19 #YoungLions squad for November! 💫
— England (@England) November 7, 2025
The young centre-half who penned a contract extension on his 18th-birthday last week, has featured in all five of England U19s friendly fixtures so far this season, where they are undefeated, beating Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium and Wales, scoring 17 goals in those four wins and conceding just two.
Will Antwi will be hoping this form will translate into a spot in next spring’s elite round of UEFA European U19s qualifying.
For that to happen, his U19s side must finish in the top two of their first round qualifying group. Drawn in Group 8, they will face group hosts Lithuania on Wednesday 12 November (4pm GMT) and Latvia on Saturday 15 November (10am GMT), before concluding their first-round qualifying campaign against Josh Landers’ Scotland on Tuesday 18 November (10am GMT).
In Qatar, goalkeeper Lanre Awesu is currently competing in the FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar, where England are through to the knockout stages after finishing second in Group E. The Young Lions recovered from an opening defeat by Venezuela to comfortably ease past Haiti and Egypt to make the last 32.
Awesu becomes just the eighth Academy of Football player to be selected for a FIFA U17 World Cup finals. following England's Jordan Spence in 2007, Deniz Mehmet for Turkey in 2009, England's Blair Turgott and the late Dylan Tombides for Australia in 2011, Daniel Jinadu for Nigeria and Krisztián Hegyi for Hungary in 2019, and goalkeeper Finlay Herrick for England in 2023.
Development team defender Josh Briggs was called up for the second time to Northern Ireland’s U21s for two UEFA European U21 Championship Group F qualifiers.
The 19-year-old centre-half previously captained Northern Ireland U18s and also featured at U17 and U19 levels before his first U21s call-up in March this year.
Tommy Wright’s side kicked off proceedings in Group F in September with a hard-fought 1-1 draw away to Georgia. In the last international break, in October, Briggs' Academy teammate Michael Forbes — who is currently on loan at Northampton Town and misses out on the squad through injury — was on the scoresheet in their 2-0 victory over Malta. They were then unlucky to fall to a 2-1 defeat against top seeds Germany, having led for well over an hour in Belfast.
Briggs will be hoping to make his U21s debut when Northern Ireland face Latvia on Thursday 13 November (7.45pm GMT) on home soil, and Greece on Tuesday 18 November (2pm GMT) in Livadeia.
To qualify for the finals in Serbia and Albania in 2027, Northern Ireland must win their group or finish second and qualify via the play-offs.
As well as Golambeckis with England, there will be three more young Hammers in UEFA European U19 qualifiers this November. A reminder that for all four, the stakes are the same. In other words, the top two teams in each group, along with the best third-place side, will join top seeds Spain in the elite round draw on 10 December. The elite round, to be played in spring 2026, will decide the seven nations joining hosts Wales at the finals, scheduled from 28 June to 11 July next year.
Rayan Oyebade was called up to Greece’s U19s squad for the first time for their three qualifiers.
The 18-year-old centre-back, born to a Greek mother and Nigerian father, will represent the country of his mother’s birth for the first time. He previously featured for England at U15s level, just a year after being introduced to Academy footbal at Chadwell Heath. Prior to joining West Ham United, Oyebade played grassroots football in north London for Broadwater Farm and Focus Football.
Oyebade and his Greece teammates have been drawn in Group 3 for the first round of their U19 European qualifying campaign. They will face Belarus on Wednesday 12 November (10am), Liechtenstein on Saturday 15 November (10am), and hosts Türkiye on Tuesday 18 November (1pm).
Striker Josh Landers, who has netted five goals in five games for his country this season, is once again part of Scotland’s U19s squad.
Landers and his Scotland teammates have been drawn in the same group as Golambeckis’ England. They will face Latvia on Wednesday 12 November (10am), Lithuania on Saturday 15 November (4pm), before facing England on Tuesday 18 November (10am).
West Ham United U18s captain Callum Leacock will be playing a year above his age group with Northern Ireland’s U19s.
After making 16 appearances for Northern Ireland’s U17s, Leacock was promoted to the U19s — the year above his actual age group — in October, earning his first U19s caps in friendly fixtures against the USA and Switzerland in preparation for November’s Euro qualifiers.
Leacock and his Northern Ireland teammates have been drawn in Group 13 and will face hosts Malta on Wednesday 12 November (10am), Azerbaijan on Saturday 15 November (1.30pm) and Czechia on Tuesday 18 November (10am). All three fixtures will be hosted at Malta’s National Stadium in Ta’ Qali.
Also in European qualifying, but for the U17s, is U16 schoolboy Isaac Thomas, who has been called up once again by Walers.
The young midfielder made his full U18s debut earlier this month, scoring four goals from centre-back in an 8-2 win over Ipswich Town in Premier League South.
Thomas first represented his country at U17s level in September, in a double header against Estonia, who will host the UEFA European U17 Championships in May next year. Making his debut on his 16th birthday in a 4-1 win, he would captain the side just three days later, when the young Dragons came from behind to win 2-1.
This November, the young midfielder receives his third U17s call-up for European qualifiers. Wales have been drawn in Group 12 and will play Slovenia on Wednesday 12 November (10am GMT), hosts Portugal on Saturday 15 November (1pm GMT), before rounding off their first-round qualifying campaign against Liechtenstein on Tuesday 18 November (1pm GMT). All three fixtures will be hosted by defending champions Portugal in Albufeira and Faro.
Similarly to the U19s qualifiers, Thomas and his Wales teammates must finish in the top two in order to progress to the elite round in the spring. That second set of qualifiers will feature 28 teams — made up of the top two from each of the 14 groups in the first round — drawn into seven groups of four, with only the winners of each group qualifying for the final tournament alongside hosts Estonia next May.
Fixtures in full
Wednesday 12 November
Airidas Golambeckis | England U19s v Lithuania – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Raudondvario Stadionas, Raudondvaris, Lithuania, 4pm GMT
Josh Landers | Scotland U19s v Latvia – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Raudondvario Stadionas, Raudondvaris, Lithuania, 10am GMT
Callum Leacock | Northern Ireland U19s v Malta – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, National Stadium, Ta’ Qali, Malta, 10am GMT
Rayan Oyebade | Greece U19s v Belarus – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Arslan Zeki Demirci Spor Kompleksi, Manavgat, Türkiye, 10am GMT
Isaac Thomas | Wales U17s v Slovenia – UEFA U17 European Championship Qualifier, Albufeira Municipal Stadium, Albufeira, Portugal, 10am GMT
Thursday 13 November
Josh Briggs | Northern Ireland U21s v Latvia – UEFA U21 European Championship Qualifier, The Oval, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 7.45pm GMT
Friday 14 November
Lewis Orford, Fin Herrick & Josh Ajala | England U20s v Japan – International Friendly, Eco-Power Stadium, Doncaster, England, 7.30pm GMT
Lanre Awesu | England U17s v TBC – FIFA U17 World Cup Round of 32, Aspire Zone, Doha, Qatar, TBC
Saturday 15 November
Airidas Golambeckis | England U19s v Latvia – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Raudondvario Stadionas, Raudondvaris, Lithuania, 10am GMT
Josh Landers | Scotland U19s v Lithuania – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Raudondvario Stadionas, Raudondvaris, Lithuania, 4pm GMT
Callum Leacock | Northern Ireland U19s v Azerbaijan – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, National Stadium, Ta’ Qali, Malta, 1.30pm GMT
Rayan Oyebade | Greece U19s v Liechtenstein – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Arslan Zeki Demirci Spor Kompleksi, Manavgat, Türkiye, 10am GMT
Isaac Thomas | Wales U17s v Portugal – UEFA U17 European Championship Qualifier, Estádio de São Luís, Algarve, Portugal, 1pm GMT
Tuesday 18 November
Airidas Golambeckis & Josh Landers | England U19s v Scotland – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Raudondvario Stadionas, Raudondvaris, Lithuania, 10am GMT
Callum Leacock | Northern Ireland U19s v Czechia – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Ta’ Qali, National Stadium, Malta, 10am GMT
Rayan Oyebade | Greece U19s v Türkiye – UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifier, Arslan Zeki Demirci Spor Kompleksi, Manavgat, Türkiye, 1pm GMT
Isaac Thomas | Wales U17s v Liechtenstein – UEFA U17 European Championship Qualifier, Albufeira Municipal Stadium, Albufeira, Portugal, 1pm GMT
Josh Briggs | Northern Ireland U21s v Greece – UEFA U21 European Championship Qualifier, Municipal Stadium of Livadia, Livadia, Greece, 2pm GMT
