IN the club’s 143-year history, Swindon Town has seen four contracted players go to a World Cup.

Before Jonny Williams’ inclusion in Wales' squad for Qatar 2022, Alan McLoughlin was the first Town player ever to receive the honour, travelling to Italy in 1990 after excellent club form resulted in his call-up by English World-Cup winner, Jack Charlton.

Norway’s Jan Age Fjortoft followed suit in 1994 as the United States of America hosted an unforgettable tournament which was won by Brazil.

Midfielder Massimo Luongo then completed a hat-trick for Swindon in the 2014 edition when Australia brought him into their squad for Brazil.

As the latest FIFA Men’s World Cup begins, Adver Sport looks back on the four Town heroes to represent their country and how they fared.

ALAN MCLOUGHLIN

Four years before McLoughlin became an Irish hero – south of the border, at least – the midfielder’s performances for Swindon won him international recognition.

After making his international debut on June 2 in a 3-0 friendly win against Malta, McLoughlin went on to make two substitute appearances at Italia 90 during draws against England and Egypt.

Charlton’s men qualified in second place behind England in Group F and eventually lost 1-0 to the host nation in the quarter-finals.

McLoughlin left Swindon later that year with the club in financial trouble but went on to score the equaliser in a World-Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast as the Republic made it to USA ’94 at their neighbour’s expense.

JAN AGE FJORTOFT

Fjortoft collected 71 caps for his country between 1986 and 1996, but only once during that time did the nation – which now claims Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard – qualify for the World Cup.

The man who made the aeroplane celebration trendy started in a 1-0 win over Mexico and a 1-0 reverse to Italy at the 1994 event. Fjortoft was not in the squad for a 0-0 draw with a Republic of Ireland squad which did not feature McLoughlin but did include John Sheridan.

Despite Mexico, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, and Norway all securing four points with a goal difference of 0, Fjortoft’s country finished bottom of Group E on goals scored.

Swindon Advertiser:

MASSIMO LUONGO

Midway through 102 games at Swindon, a 21-year-old Massimo Luongo made his Australia debut under now Glasgow Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou in a pre-World Cup friendly. Having only earned one senior cap before the tournament, Luongo was not brought on in any of the Socceroos’ three group-stage matches.

Although he was called up for the 2018 edition in Russia as well, Luongo was never brought on as Australia once again crashed out.

The former Town midfielder was then left out of Australia’s 2022 World Cup squad after suffering with injury.

JONNY WILLIAMS

Before joining Town, Williams was included in almost every Wales squad since his international debut in 2013 – including the 2016 and 2020 European Championships sides.

He played four times at Euro 2016 as Wales heroically reached the semi-finals before falling to Portugal. After receiving the call up from Rob Page, Williams is part of Wales’ first World Cup appearance in 64 years.