Georginio Rutter remains, 12 depart: Every Leeds United player heading out on international duty this week | OneFootball

Leeds United are top of the Championship with the international break now underway, with Daniel Farke's side the form team in the division in 2024 as well.

The Whites had a nine-day break for all of their players between the win over Sheffield Wednesday and the 2-0 victory over Millwall in their previous fixture on Sunday, but will welcome the break for the majority of the side between Millwall and Easter weekend, which kicks-off a week on Friday with an away trip to Watford.

Farke's side entered this season among the favourites for promotion and are in the mix again but the run-in from Easter onwards is always the most critical period of the campaign, when it comes down to the crunch and fixtures come at you thick and fast.

The race for promotion has heated up considerably for the sides around Leeds after a flawless start since the turn of the year, recording 12 league wins and a draw so far since the turn of the year, which not only helped close the gap to the other sides in the mix, but seen the Whites overtake them.

Most of the Leeds squad will be given a break for the next 12 days after that win over Millwall, including Georginio Rutter, with the club announcing that he had pulled out of Thierry Henry's France U-21 squad to have a minor operation on a hernia.

Here, we take a look at all the Leeds players who have been called up to international duty over the course of the next week.

Wales - Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Dan James, Connor Roberts

Leeds' quartet of Welsh internationals are set to face Finland in Path A's European Championship qualifying semi-final, with the chance of facing Poland or Estonia on Tuesday for a place at EURO 2024 in Germany.

Their games will be far more intense than many of Leeds' other international players, who will be on duty in friendlies for the most part. That's less than ideal for Farke and co. but they will no doubt be wishing the best for their Wales contingent.

Finland - Glen Kamara

That quartet will be up against one of their teammates, with the vastly experienced Fin one of his country's key men as they look to book their place at the finals this summer.

Kamara could earn his 60th cap during the break, but has been one of Leeds' most ever-present players this season so far, and would arguably have welcomed the rest along with many other players in the squad.

Dominican Republic - Junior Firpo

Firpo's international allegiance switch has been confirmed with a first ever call up for the Dominican Republic. The ex-Barcelona man was born in Santo Domingo but moved to Malaga as a six-year-old and spent the rest of his youth in Spain, thus holding citizenship for both nations.

Four caps for Spain's U21s came during his time at Real Betis, but he has been called up at the age of 27 for the first time to the Dominican Repblic's senior team.They're due to take on Aruba and then Peru on Wednesday March 27th during the international break, meaning he may not return to Leeds until shortly before Leeds' clash with Watford next week, and could miss out from Leeds' squad.

Bulgaria - Ilia Gruev

Gruev has been called up by Bulgaria once again, but his side will be playing friendly games, having failed to qualify for the Euros this summer.

It's not great news for Leeds, though, with one of their key players since the turn of the year facing long trips to Tanzania and Azerbaijan during the break. The latter will be played next Tuesday.

Leeds' club-captain has been a regular inclusion in Scotland squads for a few years now, and he will look to add to his 17 caps in friendly games against Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

Scotland are not travelling far and wide, which will be a welcome factor for Farke's side in reducing at least one player's mileage during this international break.

Italy U-21s - Willy Gnonto

The 20-year-old already has 13 senior caps to his name after breaking into the Italy side at the tender age of 18 while at FC Zürich, and becoming their youngest ever goalscorer in the process when he notched against Germany in one of his first games.

His U-21 inclusion mirrors what he has been doing for the last two international breaks, though. His side face Latvia on Friday and Turkey next Tuesday on March 26th.

England U-21s - Charlie Cresswell and Archie Gray

Gray's rapid development has earnt him his first 21s team call up, not long after he made the step up to the U-20 team last year. He will be joined by a familiar face in Cresswell, who has already appeared 14 times for Lee Carsley's side.

Azerbaijan and Luxembourg are the first tests for Gray in EURO U-21 qualifying for the recent champions of the competition last year, and the squad is full of young Premier League stars, too.

Spain U-21s - Mateo Joseph

Another big success story for Leeds this season has been the breakthrough of Joseph, who has made a major career decision by snubbing England's U-20 team to link up with Spain's U-21 side.

Their EURO U-21 qualifying campaign sees them face Slovakia and Belgium, where Joseph will look to continue his good recent form and trajectory by making himself the first-choice for the 21s team.