Two Lincoln City players have been named in international squads for upcoming matches.
Ryan Oné has been named in the Scotland Under 21 squad for fixtures against Czechia and Portugal, as they seek qualification for the UEFA Under-21 Championship in Albania and Serbia next year. Oné joins fellow League One player Emilio Lawrence (Luton Town) in the squad, and his call-up was not a surprise.
Scotland are currently occupying a play-off spot in a competitive group, and Oné will be hoping to add to the goal he scored in the rout of Gibraltar last year, in one of his two outings for his country at this level.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 | +21 | 13 |
| 2 | Scotland | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 7 | +11 | 10 |
| 3 | Czechia | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 10 |
| 4 | Bulgaria | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 | Azerbaijan | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 14 | -9 | 5 |
| 6 | Gibraltar | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 31 | -30 | 0 |
Another player who will be in Under-21 action is midfielder Ivan Varfolomeev, adding to his 12 caps at this level. He has been called up by Ukraine to represent them in their Group H games in the same competition. Varfolomeev, who has broken into the Imps first team in the period between this call-up and his last international outing, joins Exeter City’s on-loan attacker Timur Tuterov in the squad.
He’s set to face Lithuania and Hungary in Group H, at a critical stage for his country. They sit outside the play-off spots in the competition, and will be looking to keep pace with Turkey and Croatia, who only play once. If Turkey beats Croatia, and Ukraine can get a pair of wins, they’ll draw level with the latter on points, needing to overturn a +5 goal difference going into the final two rounds of fixtures.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turkey | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 11 |
| 2 | Croatia | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 10 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 4 |
| 4 | Hungary | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 3 |
| 5 | Lithuania | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 13 | -11 | 1 |
What does this mean for Lincoln?
At the moment, it doesn’t mean a thing: clubs can only call a game off if there are three players out of action. The games, scheduled to take place over the weekend of March 28th, clash with our trip to Doncaster Rovers.
Clubs are already calling matches off for that weekend: Bolton Wanderers’ clash with Stevenage has been postponed because of call-ups on that weekend.
Currently, there is a chance that Reeco Hackett could be called up by St Lucia, who have two matches in Europe over the break as part of the 2026 FIFA Series. His side faces Azerbaijan on 27th March, and then either Oman or Sierra Leone, three days later. With their forward line including a Farnborough striker and a Bishop Stortford striker, you’d imagine a player of Hackett’s quality would be included, if available.
Kamil Conteh has been called up by Sierra Leone before, but not since 2024, and is unlikely to feature for them.
There is a suggestion that Jack Moylan could be in Irish contention after his blistering form of late. Gut feeling? If these were friendlies, he’d surely be in manager Heimir Hallgrímsson’s thoughts, but as it is a World Cup play-off against Czechia, surely they’re unlikely to experiment.
The Ireland squads rarely include players from the third tier. Johnny Kenny, on loan at Bolton from Celtic, is a recent call up, as is Josh Keeley of Luton Town. Josh Honohan, called up recently while at Shamrock Rovers, would also be in contention were he not injured.
It means we’ll have to wait a little longer to find out if we’re going to Doncaster a week on Saturday, or enjoying a rare weekend off.
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