James Carragher: How Is He Eligible To Play For Malta?

It is the dream of every footballer to represent their country on the international stage. Most never get to do that as you have to be at the top of your game to even get a look in. One player who was lucky enough to earn some minutes on the international stage was Jamie Carragher. He played 38 times for England over 11 years in what was considered to be the Golden Generation for the Three Lions.

Jamie Carragher's son, James Carragher, has received his first international call-up... for Malta 🇲🇹

The Wigan defender qualifies for the country through his grandparents, and joins the squad to face Finland and Poland 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tehkZN3j1Z

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 17, 2025

It has been more common in recent years for dual nationals to switch allegiances to a lower ranked national team in order to get play time. Carragher’s son James is an example of this, as the 22 year old was recently called up to the Maltese national team. But how is the son of a former England international eligible to play for Malta?

Who Is James Carragher?

Born in Liverpool, James Carragher spent the majority of his youth days in the Reds’ academy, climbing the ranks as a promising youngster. At the age of 15, he joined the Wigan Athletic academy and apart from loan spells, has spent his whole professional career there. He captained the under 18s side as they won the Professional Development League division 2 in 2021 and signed for the senior team in the same year.

His early appearances for Wigan were limited to cup games in the EFL Trophy and League Cup, before he went out on loan to Oldham Athletic in the National League in 2022-23. He made just six appearances for them and in January 2024 he was loaned out again, this time to Scottish Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He played 20 times for the club but was unable to save them from relegation into the third tier.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝘄𝗻. 💙

🇲🇹 Congratulations to @Latics_Academy graduate, James Carragher, who has earned his first international call-up for Malta! 👏#wafc 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/9ygFdPMHdY

— Wigan Athletic (@LaticsOfficial) March 17, 2025

In August of last year Carragher made his league debut for Wigan and has since had a part of the first team on a semi-regular basis. He has played nearly half of the available minutes in the league, but he is still behind the likes of Will Aimson and Jason Kerr in the starting line up.

Maltese Citizenship

James Carragher’s grandfather is of Maltese descent, and in February of this year both Jamie and James received Maltese citizenship. At the time, the president of Malta’s Football Association said that he would consider a call up for the defender. Just a month later, he has joined up with the Maltese national team ahead of their matches against Finland and Poland in the World Cup Qualifiers.

Where To Watch Malta vs Finland

The match takes place at the National Stadium in Malta on Friday 21st March at 19:45. It is not available to watch in the UK, but is available on DAZN in Canada and Germany.

Tips And Predictions For Malta vs Finland

This game will be a lot closer than it looks on paper. Finland are in terrible form, having not won in almost a year and have failed to score in their last two games, against Ireland and Greece. Malta meanwhile haven’t lost in their last four matches and are unbeaten at home since 2023. Defensively they are remarkably solid, and with the addition of James Carragher could even stop the likes of Finland’s Teemu Pukki.

Our best tip for this game is for a HT Draw as Malta have some surprisingly adept defenders, despite most of them having never played outside of the small Mediterranean island. Ultimately I think Finland are more likely to edge the game over 90 minutes, but Malta definitely have the ability to stop them.