Ten senior West Ham United players have been called up by their countries for fixtures to be played during the international break.
With qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2024 kicking-off this month in Europe, Gianluca Scamacca and Emerson will meet up with Italy, while Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal are another Hammers pait to have been selected by their country, Czech Republic.
Elsewhere, England’s Declan Rice, France’s Alphonse Areola and Germany’s Thilo Kehrer will hope to be involved in their qualifiers, while Hungary’s Krisztián Hegyi has received a first senior call-up.
Further afield, Brazil’s Paquetá and Morocco’s Nayef Aguerd will be involved in international friendlies – with the pair set to face one another in Tangier.
Meanwhile, eight Academy of Football youngsters have also received call-ups and will take part in a variety of competitive and friendly fixtures.
When and where are our Hammers in action?
The action all begins on Thursday evening, when three Hammers could go head-to-head in Naples. Group C of qualifying for Euro 2024 gets underway at 7.45pm GMT when Italy’s Scamacca and Emerson take on England’s Rice in a repeat of the last Euros final when, of course, the Azzurri triumphed on penalties.
Following that meeting at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, England return to action on Sunday evening when they host Ukraine at Wembley (5pm BST), while on the same evening Italy head to Malta for their second qualification fixture (7.45pm BST).
Returning to Thursday, 20-year-old goalkeeper Hegyi could earn his first full Hungary cap when his country host Estonia in a friendly match, which kicks-off at 6.30pm GMT. The Magyars then begin their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with another home fixture, against Bulgaria, on Monday evening (7.45pm BST).
Onto Friday and the post-Hugo Lloris era starts for France and Areola with a marquee home qualifier against the Netherlands (7.45pm BST). The Hammers stopper will compete with AC Milan’s Mike Maignan and Lens 'keeper Brice Samba for the spot between the posts. France’s second fixture of this international window is a qualifier in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland on Monday (7.45pm BST).
In Prague, Souček and Coufal could be involved as Czech Republic host Poland in their first qualification fixture on Friday (7.45pm GMT), with their second throwing up a trip to Chisinau to take on Moldova on Monday (7.45pm BST).
Saturday will see three of our players face friendly action, with Kehrer’s Germany – already qualified for Euro 2024 as hosts – hosting Peru in Mainz (7.45pm GMT). In Tangier, Aguerd will hope to take on teammate Paquetá with Morocco taking on Brazil (10pm GMT).
Germany’s second friendly sees them welcome Belgium to Cologne on Tuesday (7.45pm BST), while Morocco play Peru in Madrid on the same evening (7.30pm BST).
Where can I watch the games?
England’s fixtures against Italy and Ukraine will be broadcast live in the UK on Channel 4 and online via All 4.
The remainder of the European qualifiers will be broadcast across Viaplay’s channels.
How about our young players?
Eight young Hammers will also be away with their respective national teams at age-group level.
Ben Johnson will look to add to his four England U21 caps with home friendlies against France on Saturday and Croatia on Tuesday.
Also at U21 level, Armstrong Okoflex could win his first cap at this age-group when Republic of Ireland take on Iceland in a friendly on Sunday.
Divin Mubama, fresh from scoring his first senior Hammers goal, links up with England U19 for a triple-header of UEFA U19 European Championship qualifiers against Hungary, Iceland and Turkey.
At the same age-group, Northern Ireland pair Michael Forbes and Callum Marshall will hope to push their country to the finals, with matches against France, Bulgaria and Norway on the agenda.
Ollie Scarles will be involved in three friendlies at U18 level for England, with the Young Lions taking on Croatia, Belgium and Switzerland.
Academy goalkeeper Finlay Herrick, meanwhile, is in the England U17 squad for their UEFA U17 Championship qualifiers against Denmark, Northern Ireland and Netherlands and, finally, Josh Briggs is involved in the same qualification group for Northern Ireland.
