Like several of Giovanni Trapattoni's Republic of Ireland squad at UEFA EURO 2012, Simon Cox was born in England. The West Bromwich Albion FC striker scored on his debut for his adopted country and made six UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying appearances.

• Born in Reading, he joined his home-town club as a schoolboy and made two appearances as a teenager for the first team in the season that they earned promotion to the Premier League, 2005/06, before loan spells at Brentford FC and Northampton Town FC.

• His career was launched in earnest during the 2007/08 season following a transfer to then third-tier Swindon Town FC; scored 14 goals in his first term and a remarkable tally of 29 in his second – the joint highest total for the 2008/09 Football League campaign.

• Moved up a division − from League One to the Championship − by joining West Brom in July 2009; scored nine goals to help the Baggies gain automatic promotion to the Premier League.

• Used less frequently in the Premier League in 2010/11, having to wait until April to register his first top-flight goal, but did enough to gain a maiden call-up for Ireland at end of the campaign, scoring on his debut in a 5-0 win against Northern Ireland in the Nations Cup mini-tournament.

• Scored again in a June 2011 friendly triumph over Italy in Liege, started the final UEFA EURO 2012 group qualifier at home to Armenia and appeared as a substitute in both legs of the play-off against Estonia.