{"id":412620,"date":"2025-09-10T07:58:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T07:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412620\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T07:58:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T07:58:28","slug":"djed-spence-hopes-to-be-flagbearer-after-becoming-englands-first-muslim-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412620\/","title":{"rendered":"Djed Spence hopes to be flagbearer after becoming England\u2019s first Muslim player"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Tottenham defender made history when he came on as a late substitute in Tuesday night\u2019s 5-0 World Cup qualifying win over Serbia in Belgrade.<\/p>\n<p>Spence said: \u201cIt is a blessing, it is great, it is good to make history and hopefully it spurs young kids on around the world so they can make it and do what I am doing.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"525\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Who\u2019s cutting onions? \ud83e\udd72<\/p>\n<p>A special moment in the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThreeLions?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#ThreeLions<\/a> dressing room, as an emotional <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HKane?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@HKane<\/a> presents <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DjedSpence?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@DjedSpence<\/a> with his legacy cap \ud83e\udde2\u2764\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VgygTeriAJ\">pic.twitter.com\/VgygTeriAJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 England (@England) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/England\/status\/1965541104142418284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">September 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI was surprised, I didn\u2019t know I was the first, it is a blessing and I hope it paves the way for many more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever religion you believe in, just believe in God.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod is the greatest, he never lets you down. You see days like today, it is all because of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spence was presented with his legacy cap by captain Harry Kane after the game and he was proud to have achieved a lifelong ambition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was amazing, it has been a long time coming,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have dreamed about it all my life since I was a kid so it is amazing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an honour. H gave it to me when I was in the dressing room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a little bit emotional, the journey I have been on. I\u2019m officially an England player now so I am over the moon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said I was at Tottenham with him a few years ago and he has seen my growth and he knows how hard it is to get to this level.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2.81548967.jpg\" alt=\"Djed Spence in action for England\" data-title=\"Serbia v England \u2013 2026 FIFA World Cup \u2013 European Qualifiers \u2013 Group K \u2013 Rajko Mitic Stadium\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Bradley Collyer\" data-usage-terms=\"Use subject to FA restrictions. Editorial use only. Commercial use only with prior written consent of the FA. No editing except cropping.\"  \/>Spence came on as a second-half substitute for England (Bradley Collyer\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is just happy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was also a special night for Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi as they all scored their first goals for their country.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the game it was expected that Konsa and Guehi would have to do the bulk of their work at the other end in what was supposed to be England\u2019s toughest encounter of the qualifying campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t see that very often, both centre-backs scoring in the same game,\u201d Konsa said. \u201cI\u2019m very happy for Marc, I thought he was excellent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main thing was we kept a clean sheet and the goals were a bonus so I\u2019m happy for him.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DOZaSenjNM-\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\"background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"\/>\n<p>\u201cIt is a very confident win, especially away from home. It is never easy coming away to places like this.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo come away with a 5-0 win is a statement from us and we want to keep going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a step in the right direction, we won\u2019t think too far ahead, we still have to win the game in the next camp and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tottenham defender made history when he came on as a late substitute in Tuesday night\u2019s 5-0 World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-412620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115178944363084691","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}