Football

Chris Waddle calls for Ben White to be barred from representing England again

Kora W Goal editorial team10 November 2026 at 19:411 Minute

Archive photo: Tottenham Hotspur team line up before their UEFA Champions League round of 16 match against RB Leipzig on 10 March 2020. The player escorts stand well apart because of the coronavirus (Steffen Prößdorf · ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Prepared with the site watermark

Former Tottenham player Chris Waddle called for Ben White to be barred from representing England again, objecting to Thomas Tuchel’s selection of the Arsenal defender for the Nations League matches against Croatia and Spain.

White had previously said he was unavailable to play for the national team under Gareth Southgate and Lee Carsley, and left England’s camp during the 2022 World Cup. According to the report, he was not called up again until Tuchel selected him in March of the same year.

The report said White was booed when he came on as a substitute in a friendly against Uruguay, and Waddle believed fans might do the same if he played in the upcoming matches. He also considered White’s call-up surprising, noting that he does not play in every Arsenal match and can also play at centre-back.

White has six caps and was not included in England’s World Cup squad. Reece James is absent from the national team through injury, while Marc Guéhi withdrew from the squad with an injury and Bournemouth defender James Hill replaced him.