Lincoln City entered uncharted territory during this international break, with five players called up to represent their countries.
It’s a longer break from club football than usual, and we’re now past the two-thirds mark ahead of facing Sheffield United next Saturday.
Nevertheless, there have still been Imps players in action over the past fortnight, so let’s have a look at how the quintet of players have been doing.
Andrei Coubiș
Coubiș was briefly the Imps record signing after arriving for a seven-figure fee from Universitatea Cluj this summer. His impact on City’s side is only going to grow, playing the full 90 minutes in three of our eight Championship games thus far. That includes the draw against Southampton and victory at Preston North End.
Born in Milan, the 23-year-old briefly attempted to represent Italy, but eventually committed his international future to Romania. After a solitary appearance for the U21s four years ago, Coubiș was handed his senior bow earlier in 2026. While he wasn’t involved in the Tricolours World Cup qualifying defeat to Turkiye, he has since featured in three friendlies.
However, he took his involvement up a notch during the current international break. Coubiș made his competitive debut against Sweden last Friday evening, playing the entire game at centre half as part of a back three. Premier League forwards Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres grabbed the goals as Romania fell to a narrow defeat, before they shipped four on Monday against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our 6ft 5in defender played at right-back in that fixture, and while he didn’t start against Poland on Friday, Coubiș was introduced after 27 minutes following Radu Drăgușin’s red card. It was a tough evening for Romania from that point onwards, with former Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski scoring a hat-trick in a 6-0 win for the Eagles. Romania face one final fixture with Sweden tomorrow evening.
Ivan Varfolomeev
City’s Ukrainian midfielder has gone from strength to strength at the club since joining last summer. He initially bided his time until Tom Bayliss unfortunate injury at Stockport County on Boxing Day last year was his route into the side, a position he maintained as the Imps won the League One title. Varfolomeev has continued his progression with Lincoln in the Championship, earning a first senior call-up for his country after regularly representing the U21’s.
The 22-year-old was absent from the Blue and Yellows’ squad for their Nations League fixtures against Hungary and Georgia, but was named in their matchday squad against Northern Ireland two days ago. In a clip shared on social media, our midfielder made quite an impression during a shooting drill in training, and was duly rewarded with a spot on the bench against the Green and White Army.
Despite some sites stating he was introduced as a second-half substitute, this wasn’t the case, and he will have one final chance to make his debut this international break. Ukraine ‘host’ Hungary for the second time in this window on Monday evening, before Ivan returns to Lincolnshire in plenty of time before our trip to Bramall Lane in six days.
Chieo Ogbene
City’s deadline day arrival on loan from Ipswich Town is the most senior of the players called up at international level, with 35 caps for the Republic of Ireland. However, his involvement during this set of fixtures hasn’t been quite as prominent. After playing at least an hour for The Boys in Green in their four friendlies over the summer, scoring against World Cup co-hosts Canada in June, he has started just one of their three Nations League fixtures.
Ogbene missed the Republic of Ireland’s best chance of the match midway through the first half against Kosovo, and was eventually withdrawn for former Imp Jack Moylan after 61 minutes. The current City man could only watch on as Moylan grabbed a goal and an assist in the controversial fixture with Israel last Sunday. On Thursday evening, he replaced goalscorer Troy Parrot, whose brace had given Ireland a 2-1 lead against Austria. However, minutes after his introduction, the visitors found themselves level, and that’s how it remained.
There will be one final chance for Ogbene to force his way back into Heimir Hallgrímsson’s lineup in the second fixture with Israel this evening.
What About Our U21 Players?
There were two Imps who received call-ups for their national teams’ youth sides: Yunus Konak and Oisin Gallagher. The former is on loan at City from Brentford, while also representing Turkiye’s U21 side at international level. In their recent Euro U21 Qualifier against Ukraine U21s, a game that Ivan may have previously featured in before his senior call-up, Konak was named on the bench. The Crescent-Stars face Hungary U21s in their final qualifier on Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Gallagher’s Republic of Ireland U21’s are competing in the same set of qualifiers. He scored the winner on debut against Kazakhstan U21s earlier this year, before featuring in two friendlies over the summer. Now on loan at Barnet at club level, where he has helped the Bees to an unbeaten start, Oisin’s involvement at international level has been more limited during the latest set of fixtures. He played 15 minutes against Slovakia U21s, but didn’t feature in the thrilling home win against Kazakhstan U21s. There is one final opportunity for Gallagher to add some minutes for his country against England U21s on Tuesday teatime.
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