Danny played for England. In real life despite being born in England, Vinnie Jones chose to play for Wales, qualifying through his Welsh grandfather.
Two top billed actors were professional athletes before starting their acting careers. Vinnie Jones was an accomplished British footballer, playing on various teams. He earned a reputation as a, "Hard man", for his aggressive playing style. Jason Statham was a British National Team diver, finishing 12th in the 1992 world championship.
Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Vas Blackwood and Jake Abraham were all in Bube Dame König grAS (1998), which also produced by Matthew Vaughn. Guy Ritchie was an executive producer on the film.
This is a british remake of Die Kampfmaschine (1974) with Burt Reynolds, who also starred in the remake Spiel ohne Regeln (2005) with Adam Sandler. This movie is sandwiched in between the two American movies 27 years and 4 years apart. In all three movies, the story line is the same, except the British version features Football (Soccer) and not American Football.
Vinnie Jones and Danny Dyer reportedly did not enjoy working together on this film.