Northern Ireland‘s most popular footballer at the moment, Conor Bradley, will captain his country in today’s Nations League match against Belarus. The decision was announced by coach Miker O’Neill to the squad this morning.
The match is at 21.45 at the ZTE Arena stadium in the Hungarian city of Zalaegerszeg, where UEFA sent the Belarusians as a sanction for political reasons.
The question of who is the leader in the dressing room of the British squad has come to the fore after the likes of Stephen Davies, Stuart Dallas and Jonny Evans all ended their careers in the space of just a few months. Although only 21 years old, Bradley has caught the eye with a string of outstanding performances for Liverpool, which has also made him a local fan favourite.
In the Nations League games against Luxembourg and Bulgaria last month, manager Michael O’Neill handed the armband to Sunderland defender Trey Hume.
But immediately afterwards the coach announced that he intended to have different captains in the matches until the end and said that this remains the plan for the matches against Belarus and Bulgaria in October. Bulgaria visits Belfast on October 15th at 21:45 in the fourth meeting for both teams in group C3 of the Nations League tournament.