Player's England Career Lasted 'Zero Minutes' but Still Isn't Shortest on Record
One England player has officially player zero minutes for the Three Lions, but there's one player that has technically played even less.
For many footballers across every division in the world, there is no greater honour than receiving a call up to represent their country in an international fixture.
Given the importance of football in British culture, this is perhaps even more so for England, particularly for those players talented enough to be playing in the Premier League.
Overall, there have been 1295 players to wear a Three Lions shirt, with the most recent being Tottenham Hotspur defender Djed Spence, who was called up for the first time in September by new England manager Thomas Tuchel.
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However, among all 1295 of England's players, there is one that stands out as the only one to officially have played zero minutes, despite the fact he actually has more game time than one other player.
Back in August 2017, Nathaniel Chalobah, the older brother of Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah, received his first senior England call-up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia, taking the legacy shirt number of 1237.
But it wasn't until the 15th of October 2018 that he made his debut, coming on as a substitute for Harry Winks in the first minute of stoppage time in England's 3–2 win away to Spain in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League.
The midfielder played just six minutes and 54 seconds before the final whistle was blown, signalling the end of his first, and only, senior appearance for England.
Despite this, as he came on in added time of his only England cap, Chalobah officially has an England career of zero minutes, putting him bottom of the list for total minutes played for England.
Frustratingly for Chalobah, he technically isn't the player with the shortest amount of game time for the Three Lions, as he has played just one six seconds longer than Peter Ward, who technically holds the record for shortest England career in actual time played.
On 31 May 1980, Ward came on in the 82nd minute of England's 2-1 win over Australia, earning legacy shirt number of 948, and playing eight official minutes for England.
However, as recorded by England Football Online, Ward's 'actual minutes' is only 6 min 48 seconds, coming in as six seconds less than Ward, although it is not known how that this is calculated.
And Ward isn't the only player to have fewer 'actual minutes' than Chalobah, as Liverpool defender Martin Kelly has also played just one second less than the defender.
On 22 May 2012, Kelly received his first call-up to the senior England team, with manager Roy Hodgson handing him his debut four days later during an international friendly against Norway.
The Liverpool defender, who the England's legacy shirt number 1182, came on in the 87th minute, replacing Phil Jones at right back and played two official minutes, with his total actual minutes reaching six minutes 53 seconds.
Topics: England, Football, Premier League
Ben McCrum