Academy of Internationals | Freddie Sears

Our Academy holds an important place in the development of elite players. Over the years, we’ve seen our own become West Ham legends, lift European trophies and go on to have successful careers. But before all that, they were humble Hammers, making their names at Chadwell Heath and representing their nations at youth level.

In this series, we explore some of the talent our very own West Ham graduates shared a pitch with on the international stage…

Freddie Sears in 2009 U21 International Friendly action

Part of the scholarship cohort that produced James Tomkins, Jack Collison, Junior Stanislas and Zavon Hines, Freddie Sears joined the Academy at just ten years old.

Arguably the most memorable West Ham debut of the modern era, Sears scored the decisive goal in a Premier League clash with Blackburn Rovers in March 2008. The Hammers had suffered three successive 4-0 defeats, but thanks to the then-18-year-old, who stooped to head in his own rebound just five minutes after coming on at Upton Park, West Ham took all three points with a 2-1 win and went on to finish comfortably in mid-table.

Although he made 22 appearances the following season, most of his minutes came from the bench. To reignite his West Ham career, he went on loan to then-Championship side Crystal Palace in summer 2009, where he ‘scored’ on his second start at Bristol City. Eagles fans may remember that infamous ‘phantom goal’ at Ashton Gate, when Sears’ effort hit the net but bounced back off the stanchion and was wrongly ruled out.

Sears left West Ham permanently in 2012, going on to carve out a successful Football League career with Colchester United and Ipswich Town.

Almost 25 years after first being scouted at a school match, he is now back at Chadwell Heath having completed his UEFA B licence, assisting the Academy’s U12 coaching staff while still playing part-time for Maldon & Tiptree in the Isthmian League, where he continues to score regularly.

Before making the majority of his more-than 500 senior appearances, Sears also represented England at U19, U20 and U21 level. On his U21s debut in August 2009, he replaced fellow Academy graduate Stanislas late on in a friendly against the Netherlands.

That match featured three West Ham Academy products (Stanislas, Sears and Tomkins) and pitted the Young Lions against a Dutch side whose players would go on to rack up almost 1,000 Premier League appearances.

• No1

The Netherlands No1 in this fixture made the majority of his 222 Premier League appearances for Newcastle United.

Signed from ADO Den Haag straight into the Magpies’ U18s team, he made his senior debut at 18 years old in a 1-0 UEFA Cup win at Palermo. He would first go on to prove himself during loans at Falkirk and Carlisle United before becoming Newcastle’s undisputed No1 following promotion back to the Premier League in 2010.

In just his second full season as Newcastle’s starting goalkeeper, he finished second only to Joe Hart - in goal for the 2011/12 champions Manchester City - in the race for the Golden Glove. He finished that season on 15 clean sheets for Newcastle, helping them clinch Europa League qualification.

Known for his penalty saving at international level, he replaced Jasper Cillessen in a seemingly bizarre move from Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal in their 2014 FIFA World Cup quarter-final tie against Costa Rica, only for the goalkeeper to make two crucial penalty saves. Funnily enough, after the ‘keeper swapping decision had paid off, next time out in the semi-finals against Argentina, Cillessen was left in goal for spot-kicks but failed to save any of them.

In 2018, he signed for Norwich City, where he made 169 appearances across Premier League, EFL Championship and cup competitions.

• No13

A product of the famous Ajax academy, this player went on to make the most appearances for the Dutch senior team with over 100 caps.

A seven-time Eredivisie champion with his boyhood club, he was one of 13 summer 2014 signings made by Louis van Gaal, who took over from David Moyes at Manchester United after leading the Netherlands at that year’s FIFA World Cup.

During his time at Old Trafford, he won the FA Cup in 2016, with van Gaal, and the EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League in 2017 under José Mourinho.

Currently at Girona in La Liga, he helped the Catalonian side qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history following a 2023/24 season in which he lost just four out of the 34 games he featured in, in a side tipped for relegation at the start of the campaign.

He’s started all of the Netherlands’ games in their last two FIFA World Cup campaigns (2014 and 2022), both of which ended in penalty-shootout defeats against Argentina.