“I’ve always loved Thailand and I have always really wanted to represent the country, so it was amazing to do it. It was a very honourable and surreal moment.”
Former Chelsea academy forward Jude Soonsup-Bell was reflecting on a whirlwind week, during which he made his debut for the Thailand national team.
It was certainly an eventful first two matches, as he missed a penalty after coming on for his debut in a friendly against Singapore in Bangkok, before scoring two goals in a 4-0 victory away to Sri Lanka in Asian Cup qualifying.
Soonsup-Bell played for England’s under-15s, under-16s, under-18s and under-19s but his mum, Hannah, was born in Thailand and spent the first 10 years of her life there before moving to the United Kingdom. He explained how he had been in contact with the Football Association of Thailand for a few years about making the international switch.
FIFA approved his eligibility and, following that, the 21-year-old received his first call-up to the Thailand squad at the start of November.
“My mum’s side of the family are all Thai heritage, so I’ve always wanted to go out there and experience it,” he told The Athletic. “Someone who works for the FA in Thailand contacted me and said it was a great opportunity to come out, because they had a game in the Asian Cup, a must-win. They also want the next generation of Thai players to come through. I enjoyed every minute of it, it was really fun.”
Soonsup-Bell, who still has family living in Thailand, said he had regularly visited the country when he was young, and had spent the past three summers there too.
His Thai family are based in Bangkok, so Soonsup-Bell’s international bow, the 3-2 friendly win over Singapore, was something of a homecoming.
The occasion may have been tainted slightly by that penalty miss, but Soonsup-Bell made amends days later, scoring twice in Colombo.
“It was a really big moment for me and a really proud moment for my family too,” he said.
Soonsup-Bell, who is learning Thai, said his integration into the squad had been made easier by other players holding dual nationality — such as midfielder Ben Davis (previously of Fulham and Oxford United) and former Norway youth international Nicholas Mickelson. Anthony Hudson, Thailand’s head coach, is English.
Hudson, who played for West Ham United’s youth team, began his managerial career aged just 27, the start of a journey that has taken him from Newport County to Bahrain, New Zealand, the United States, Qatar, and now the Thailand national side.
“He was very welcoming, and it made my experience easier that he could speak English too,” said Soonsup-Bell.
Soonsup-Bell, who has two older brothers and a younger sister, said there had been excitement and expectation from Thai football fans dating back to his time in the Chelsea academy, where he had a prolific record in their youth teams.
“I’ve seen the support since I was young, it’s always been a big thing out there to see a player with Thai heritage play for Chelsea,” he said. “It meant there was a bit more weight on my shoulders, going out there to prove myself and show what I can do.
“I’ve always known the football following out there is crazy, but going out there and seeing it first-hand was such a good experience.
“You can see from the FIFA world rankings, it’s a national team on the rise,” said Soonsup-Bell of his new national team, who have climbed to No 95, their highest position since 2008. “The aim is to qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia but then after that, it would be a massive thing for the Thai national team to qualify for the World Cup. They’ve never done that before.”
He said Curacao, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Cape Verde and Haiti reaching the 2026 World Cup in the new expanded 48-team format had given fresh hope to countries such as Thailand.
And as a bonus for Soonsup-Bell, his time on the international stage presents him with another chance to get his career back on track after a mixed period at club level.
Soonsup-Bell, who started his football academy journey at Swindon Town after being spotted at local side Calne, moved to Chelsea aged 12, where he was one of their outstanding players in their youth setup.
He had an impressive record for the club’s under-18s — once scoring four times in an FA Youth Cup game against Barnsley — and he scored six goals in seven matches for England’s under-16s.
He made his Chelsea debut under Thomas Tuchel, in their 2-0 victory away at Brentford in the Carabao Cup in December 2021, alongside fellow academy graduates Xavier Simons and Harvey Vale, when several first-team regulars were missing with injuries and Covid-19. However, that was his first and last showing in the Chelsea first team.
As The Athletic previously reported, he struggled after making the step up to the development squad from the under-18s and there was a feeling at Chelsea that his game hadn’t progressed as much as hoped.
Now at Grimsby Town in League Two, how does he reflect on his time with Chelsea?
“I’ve got relationships there that will last a lifetime and also amazing memories,” he said. “I managed to make my senior debut, that’s something I’ll always remember. It was a surreal experience, especially to do it with Xav and Harvey, two players I’d grown up with and been through the academy with. You work so hard for it — being away from your family is always difficult and not being able to see your friends as much, you sacrifice a lot.
“So just to get to that moment, it’s a massive weight off your shoulders for you, your family and all the people that helped you get there.”
Can he pinpoint why he could not push on at Chelsea?
“It’s not like after playing that game, you expect to play week in, week out,” he replied. “It’s more difficult than that. You’re competing against players that are getting bought for £100million. When you get into senior football, you have players competing against you who are in their prime, they have a lot more experience than you and it’s sometimes difficult for managers to trust the younger players.
“It’s more about it being a proud moment and something to push you on, depending on where you go in your career. If I had any advice for young players, it would be to keep going and never stop, because you don’t know when your next opportunity is going to come.”
After struggling to break through at Chelsea, Soonsup-Bell left to join Tottenham Hotspur’s development squad in January 2023, where he was part of the team that won Premier League 2 in May 2024.
“I really, really enjoyed Tottenham,” he said. “They were my favourite kind of years because they had such a good support network there.”
But still finding first-team opportunities hard to come by, he decided to step out of his comfort zone, joining Cordoba CF in Spain’s Segunda Division.
“I thought it would be a great experience,” he explained. “And, if I did well there, the world is your oyster as a young player playing in Europe and in the second league in Spain.”
However, he found it tough going, as he made just seven substitute league appearances, failing to register a goal.
“I didn’t play as much as I wanted to,” he said. “The style of football is very different out there. The players are technically very, very good, they have all come from top academies.”
Yet he still felt it was an invaluable experience.
Following his Spanish sojourn, Soonsup-Bell, who idolised Cristiano Ronaldo growing up, joined Grimsby in the summer, where he is still waiting for his first start and goal.
“It’s a different kind of step,” he said. “It’s a more physical and demanding league than I’ve played before, but it’s a decent standard as well.”
Soonsup-Bell said he was continuing to learn and develop as a player under manager David Artell and enjoying the convivial atmosphere among the Grimsby squad, who are aiming for promotion this season. At Grimsby, he has linked up with fellow ex-Chelsea youth players, George McEachran, the younger brother of Josh, and Neo Eccleston, who is on loan from Huddersfield Town.
One of Soonsup-Bell’s first matches at Grimsby was the club’s victory over Manchester United in the Carabao Cup, where Ruben Amorim was filmed tinkering with a tactics board in the pouring rain and then sat in the dugout rather than watch the 12-11 penalty shootout.
“It was a moment where you realised that in football, anything can happen,” Soonsup-Bell, who was an unused substitute, said.
It’s with that mindset that Soonsup-Bell is now looking forward, buoyed by his Thailand experience.
“I’m still only 21, so I want to gain as many minutes as I can and try to climb up the leagues,” he said. “I want to fulfil my potential and talent. The main thing is working hard every day to get to where I want to be.”