'I was called up from standby list and have one of shortest careers in England history'

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Martin Kelly turned out 147 times in the Premier League for Liverpool and Crystal Palace , enjoying the highs and lows as any professional would from a title challenge to long spells out injured. Yet few would blame him for watching Trevoh Chalobah join Thomas Tuchel's England squad at the World Cup with a sense of stinging envy.

For the majority of English footballers, representing their country is seen as the pinnacle of their careers and Kelly is no different. He was one of the lucky 1,290 to have won an England cap, but the defender's experience with England was short-lived to say the least.

The centre-back was handed his debut when replaced Phil Jones in the 88th minute of the 1-0 friendly win against Norway in Oslo. Officially, he was only on the pitch for two minutes and 43 seconds of regulation time - within the 90 allotted minutes.

Including stoppage time, he was out there for just six minutes and 53 seconds. That meant he was only one second short of Nathaniel Chalobah's brief appearance against Spain in a Nations League match six years later.

No player has appeared for a shorter time and won a solitary cap since then, putting Kelly in a unique position of barely being able to enjoy his time on the pitch as an England player. But when reflecting on the ignominy of having one of the shortest international career in England history, the 36-year-old explained why he views it as a memory to cherish.

“Apparently the shortest England career in history," he told The Athletic in 2025. “I don’t know for sure how accurate that is, but it’s what I’ve been told. I’m absolutely fine with that. Making my international debut was one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Kelly represented his country from Under-19 to Under-21 level before making his senior debut in 2012. He was called up by Roy Hodgson to face Norway in an international friendly prior to Euro 2012, despite not making the initial squad and put on standby instead.

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As it happens, he was later called up to Hodgson's squad for the Euros as a replacement for the injured Gary Cahill, who had suffered a fractured jaw. When he arrived with the squad for the Ukraine /Poland tournament, Kelly fell ill and didn't make a single appearance.

He later added: “I came on at right-back, had a few touches, and then it was all over. When Gary Cahill broke his jaw a week later, [England manager] Roy Hodgson called me up as a replacement in the squad for the Euros.

"It was a shame that I spent the first 10 days of the tournament in bed with a virus and never got the chance to play for England again. But just getting there meant so much after the hurdles I’d had to overcome.”

That theme of misfortune carried through to his club career too. Kelly suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury on his debut for Wigan Athletic against Blackburn Rovers in the Championship in February 2023, after joining on loan from West Brom , and never played professionally again.

In 2023/24, he trained with League Two side Salford City under his former Liverpool youth coach Karl Robinson. Kelly set his sights on an emotional comeback, but the club didn't offer him a contract and he decided to retire from the game in March 2025.

“It was March when I sat down with the family and told them I was thinking about it," he said. "Around the same time, I got asked to play for Liverpool in a legends game against Chelsea . One of the stipulations was that you had to be retired, so that just reaffirmed my decision."

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Now a football coach with a UEFA B Licence, Kelly manages to enjoy football at its stripped-down, amateur best: playing on a seven-a-side pitch with other retired Premier League cult heros, including Danny Drinkwater and Papiss Cisse.

“It was James Chester (formerly of Aston Villa ) who got me involved in this WhatsApp group. It’s an 11-a-side game on a seven-a-side pitch, so it’s pretty tight, and there are usually five or six ex-pros on each side.

"There’s no referee, we play for an hour and the losers pay for the pitch. It’s surprising how much the ex-pros really don’t want to have to hand a tenner over.”