Christian Eriksen joined two elite groups of Brentford players in the space of 120 seconds on Saturday evening. The 30-year-old came on as a half time substitute for Denmark in a friendly match against The Netherlands on Saturday, 26 March, to become the 53rd player contracted by Brentford to play for their country. When he scored moments later, he joined an even smaller group.

Christian came on at the interval of the friendly international in Amsterdam on Saturday. It was his 110th cap but the first since he joined Brentford at the end of January. He smashed a cut back in to the top corner within two minutes of his arrival on the pitch for his 37th international goal, which puts him in to a very small group of Brentford players to have scored for their countries.

Since Brentford entered the Football League more than a century ago, more than 1,000 players have appeared in our colours. But only 53 Brentford players that have featured in international football while on our books. Yoane Wissa, David Raya and Christian Eriksen have seen us jump to 53 in just two days and 14 men currently under contract with The Bees are full internationals.

Brentford players have been involved in international football for longer than The Bees have been a Football League side. Brentford’s first international was Joe Connor, who played twice for the Ireland national football team, which represented the island of Ireland from 1882 until 1950, in 1903, scoring once. Tommy Shanks also represented Ireland in 1905 and it was then almost 30 years until Dai Hopkins became Brentford’s third international, representing Wales.

Brentford played in the upper echelons of the First Division in the late 1930s and nine players won international honours, including the Club’s only two England internationals to date – Billy Scott and Leslie Smith. Only Dai made a real impact while on Brentford’s books, with his 12 caps remaining a Club Record for more than 50 years. Dai’s two goals were a Club Record for more than 80 years.

Archie Macaulay won Scotland honours in 1947 and Jimmy D’Arcy earned caps for Northern Ireland in the early 1950s, but it was then almost 40 years until Brentford’s next, 14th, international player – John Buttigieg of Malta. John signed for Brentford in November 1988 and spent just under three years with The Bees, leaving at the end of the 1990/91 season. In that period, John made 20 international appearances, which was a Club Record for almost 30 years.

Brentford players were selected for their countries throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with former captain Paul Evans becoming our 20th international when he played for Wales in 2002. Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, of Iceland, was our 25th international, with Andreas Bjelland of Denmark number 30 on the list. Two of our most capped players come in at 35 and 36 on the chronological list.

Kamohelo Mokotjo and Henrik Dalsgaard both joined Brentford in 2017 and were part of their international squads while with The Bees. Henrik earned 22 of his 26 Denmark caps while with The Bees, which makes him the Club’s most capped player. He was the first Brentford player to appear in a World Cup, helping Denmark reach the last 16 in Russia in 2018.

Kamohelo played 15 times for South Africa while with Brentford and he, along with Julian Jeanvier for Guinea, played in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. He is one of only a few Brentford players - a list that also includes Mathias Jensen, Christian Nørgaard, Henrik, Marcus Forss, Halil DerviÅŸoÄŸlu and Frank Onyeka - to have appeared in an international tournament.

The list has grown quickly since 2017 with Chris Mepham becoming the first player to come through Brentford B and win international caps. Mathias and Christian played for Denmark in the Semi-Final of the UEFA European Championships 2020, delayed until last summer by the COVID-19 pandemic. Frank became our 50th international late last year and we are now up to 53.

Between them, Brentford’s international players have approaching 300 caps, but goals by those men are rare. Christian became the 15th Brentford player to score an international goal and Wissa had become the 14th a day earlier. International goals are becoming more common for Brentford players with the Club Record held by Halil, currently with The Bees. He has four goals for Turkey.

Brentford’s full list of international goal scorers is as follows:

Halil DerviÅŸoÄŸlu – Turkey – Four goals

Marcus Forss – Finland – Two goal

Dai Hopkins – Wales – Two goals

Les Boulter – Wales – One goal

Joe Connor – Ireland – One goal

Stuart Dallas – Northern Ireland – One goal

Jimmy D’Arcy – Northern Ireland – One goal

Henrik Dalsgaard – Denmark – One goal

Christian Eriksen – Denmark – One goal

Tariqe Fosu – Ghana – One goal

Hermann Hreiðarsson – Iceland – One goal

Mathias Jensen – Denmark – One goal

Alan Judge – Republic of Ireland – One goal

Christian Nørgaard – Denmark – One goal

Yoane Wissa – Democratic Republic of Congo – One goal