'England call-up down to perseverance, effort and sacrifice'

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Goalkeeper reflects on long gap between England youth experience and first call up to England senior squad.

Nick Szczepanik

2026-03-24T10:00+00:00

Jason Steele received his first call-up to the England senior squad last week. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Jason Steele’s call-up to the England squad surprised and delighted Albion fans. But some will have needed reminding that his international career began many years ago.

While with Middlesbrough, his first club, he won an England under-16 cap in 2006, and represented the Three Lions at under-17 level on ten occasions.

He moved up to the under-19s and made a further 19 appearances, including in the 2009 European Championships in Ukraine, captaining the side against the hosts. He then played seven times for the under-21s, including an appearance in the 2013 Euros.

Jason Steele made his England Under-21 debut in November 2010. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

He was also a member of the Great Britain squad at the 2012 London Olympics, making one appearance to qualify as an Olympian. “It was always my dream to represent my country,” he said. “I’m very fortunate to have done it, probably from every age, from when I was 15 until 21. So, yeah, very privileged to have done that and very proud of it. Obviously this is a proud moment for me as well.”

The gap between his final under-21 cap to the full squad has been longer than for players such as his present Albion teammate, Danny Welbeck, who was in many of the same squads and graduated almost immediately into the senior set-up.

“That's usually the programme, preparing you for those occasions,” he said. “It’s come a little bit later than what I would have wanted! But I had a lot of good times, especially with Welbz. It's something we laugh and joke about now. We spent a lot of time together as kids. We were very close.”

“It's a nice journey, I think. It's a run of perseverance, effort, sacrifice. All these things, you know, at 35, I still enjoy throwing myself on the ground every single day and giving my all for this football club. Ultimately, it pays off.

Jason Steele joined Albion in 2018 after departing Sunderland. 📸 by James Boardman.

“I go to work every day to try my hardest, to work hard, to help everyone around me get better. That's all I try and do every day, to help myself get better. I'm still motivated to improve, every single day I go out on the pitch, off the pitch.

“I still do my gym work at 35 and I love it, love the sacrifice, love the hard work. And the minute I don't, it'll be the minute I stop playing football.

“Now I'm just going to go there full of energy, full of belief, ready to help as best as I can and prepare for a massive summer.”