Declan Rice named Ireland’s Young Player of the Year despite declaring for England
Rice switched his international allegiance to England despite playing for Ireland three times at senior level and was still an Ireland international at the time of the vote
ENGLAND’S Declan Rice has been named as the FAI’s Young Player of the Year for 2018.
The FAI has announced that the soon to be England international was selected by a jury, made up of members of the SSE Airtricity Soccer Writers Association of Ireland.
That jury deliberated in early January at a time when Rice, who was man of the match in two of his three Ireland appearances last year, was still deemed an Ireland player as he mulled over his future.
A FAI statement read: “The Football Association of Ireland can confirm that West Ham United's Declan Rice has won the Young Player Of the Year award at the 29th '3' FAI International Awards taking place on Sunday, March 17.
“The award was voted for by members of the SSE Airtricity Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland.
“At the time of the vote, Declan Rice was an Ireland international and qualified for the Young Player category in a year that saw him win three senior caps, all in '3' International Friendly games.
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“Declan Rice has since opted to switch his allegiance to England. The FAI has completed his international transfer via the FIFA protocols and wishes him well in the future.
“This award maintains the integrity of the voting process in conjunction with the Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland and the FAI thanks the jury members for their decisions relating to the awards.
“Declan Rice will not be in Dublin for the '3' FAI International Awards ceremony, which will be live on RTÉ2 from 20:30.”