‘Commanding’: One Sunderland star has ‘strong case’ to become national team captain – journalist

Sunderland’s Dan Ballard has been tipped to become the Northern Ireland captain ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Writing for BBC Sport, journalist Mark Sterling has predicted the ‘promising’ defender to potentially take the armband over the next couple of years. While born in Stevenage, Dan Ballard qualifies to represent Northern Ireland through his mother. The centre-back came up through the ranks with Northern Ireland until he was eventually called up to the senior team for the first time in 2019, though didn’t make his debut until September 2020. Ballard now has 21 international caps to his nam…

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