Gunnar Nielsen’s career at the Premier League was brief. Lasted 17 minutes. The goalkeeper was presented as a late substitute for Manchester City against Arsenal in 2010 after Shay Given worsens a shoulder injury.
But it was a big event at home. Those 17 minutes represented the only time a Faroé football player played at the Premier League. It was so important that a local radio station could not wait until the end of the game to call the goalkeeper’s brother and get his reaction. Fortunately, Nielsen has not conceded goals, preventing his brother from having to comment live on an embarrassing mistake.
“He was so nervous that he couldn’t say a word,” Nielsen said about the interview. “He just passed the phone to my sister -in -law.”
Nielsen is part of an unusual and small players club, a group that was recently expanded by Abdukodir Khusanov, a Uzbekistan advocate who plays for Manchester City: they are two of the 18 men to be the only players in their countries to appear at Premier League.
So, as you can imagine, it was great news on the Faroé islands when Nielsen made his appearance. TV and radio coverage was guaranteed, but its 15 minutes of fame, well, 17, were the subject of the city.
“I talked to a club security guard I knew,” said Nielsen. “He said the only thing everyone talked about that Saturday night was about how I made my appearance at the Premier League. It was something so big when I happened. They still say remember where they were at that very moment I entered. “
Khusanov is the second player to join the club this season after Ipswich Town striker Ali Al-Hamadi became the first Iraqi to shine in the division at the team’s debut against Liverpool.
To top it off, the others are: Victor Wanyama, Kenya; Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenia; Onel Hernández, Cuba; Junior Firpo, Dominican Republic; Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Guatemala; Danny Higginbotham, Gibraltar; Ryan Donk, Suriname; Ali Al-Habsi, Oman; Jordi Amat, Indonesia; Hamza Choudhury, Bangladesh; DYLAN KERR, Malta; MBWANA SAMATTA, Tanzania; Frédéric Nimani, Central African Republic; Neil Etheridge, Philippines; and Zesh Rehman, Pakistan.
By definition, the nations on this list are not powers of football. Some of the players had a slight advantage as they were born and created in larger or more recognizable football environments, but played for another country due to a family connection. Amat, Choudhury, Rehman, Etheridge, Hernández, Firpo, Mendez-Laing, Higginbotham and Donk fit this category.
But some of the others grew in environments where there were simply no models to follow to show them the way to one of Europe’s great leagues. They are pioneers.
Wanyama did not have a compatriot to show him the way to the Premier League, but had some more immediate models, such as his brother, McDonald Mariga, who joined Parma in Serie A when Wanyama was 16 years old. Prior to that, Wanyama followed Mariga to Helsingborgs in Sweden, returning briefly returning home when his brother went to Italy before starting his European journey with Beerschot, Belgium. He also helped the fact that his father, Noah, played and trained AFC Leopards from Nairóbi.
“I used to watch the Premier League; I grew up watching these games,” said Wanyama. “When I was 11, I dreamed of being there one day. I loved Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.”
“My father was a coach, my brother played: it was very deep. I was in our blood. I wanted to play on the biggest stage. I knew the premier league was the hardest league in the world. I knew it would be hard to enter, which motivated. “
Etheridge’s situation was a little different. Born and raised in England, the goalkeeper qualified to play for the Philippines through his mother. He traveled to the Philippines with some regularity as he grew up, but for various reasons he did not return for years. Then, at the age of 18, his former teammakers in the youth of Chelsea and the Philippine team, James and Phil Younghusband, suggested it for a team in the team as well. He made his debut in 2008, had more than 80 calls and was appointed captain of the national team in 2022.
“I just felt a connection with the country and people,” said Ethheridge from Thailand, where he plays now. “Philippines are an extremely proud country. Culture and blood run for you. I was only 18, but I saw a chance to change a country that is not necessarily oriented to football. Basketball is the number sport 1. At that time, football was not really a recognized sport. “
Of course, the Premier League is not the height for everyone. It is not necessarily the case that every player slept in Barclays’ sheets and wanted to play only in England.
See Wanyama, for example. “It was more important to play for Celtic,” he said, “because it was the team I grew up supporting. Especially in the Glasgow classic.”
For most of these players, playing at the Premier League was a source of personal pride, but the hope is that they may be the inspiration and the model they didn’t have when they were younger.
Wanyama said: “I’m proud if I made young players dream, they believe in themselves that they could play at Premier League one day. Now everyone wants to be there, and they know the door is open to them. They believe they can do that too . “
