First it was Dan Harding and Adam Hinshelwood, then Adam Virgo. Now yet another former Albion youth team player has received international recognition.

Chris Greatwich, from Lewes, is representing the Philippines at the Tiger Cup in Malaysia and Vietnam this month and expects to appear in front of more than 50,000 fans in at least one of their matches.

The former Lewes Priory schoolboy played alongside Harding and Hinshelwood as Sussex Schools under-16s lifted the national cup in 2000 and as Albion reached the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup two years later.

But while Harding is starring for England under-21s, Hinshelwood was selected for an under-21 squad and Virgo celebrated a call-up to the Scotland Futures squad, Greatwich failed to make the cut for a professional contract at the end of his Albion scholarship last year.

The 21-year-old, who has been studying advertising and PR at Drury University, Missouri, USA, was born in Westminster but qualifies for the Philippines through his mum, Carolina, who was born in Davao.

Chris' dad, Clive, said: "Carol went over for her mum's funeral a couple of years ago. While she was over there she went to the Philippines Football Federation and told them about Chris.

"We didn't hear anything for a while but in the early part of this year they sent us an email, asking if Chris would be interested in going over for some trials.

"Chris had to ask the university if he could get any time off and they agreed to let him go while continuing his work over there. He had three weeks of trials in November and was always confident of getting in.

"We're very proud of him. It's a privilege for him to play for the Philippines and a good experience of different cultures."

Greatwich has already played for the national team in friendlies against local sides in the Philippines and Vietnam, impressing in a free role behind the two strikers.

The Tiger Cup is the Asian equivalent of the European Championships without the three strongest teams - China, Japan and Korea - but the Philippines are ranked 193rd in the world and have lost every match except one, a draw, in four previous competitions.

Thailand, Myanmar, East Timor and hosts Malaysia provide the opposition in their group, with the top two teams progressing to the semi-finals.

Matches will be shown live throughout Asia by ESPN and Greatwich revealed: "They're expecting at least 50,000 fans for our game against Malaysia, maybe even 80,000.

"It will be tremendous to play in front of that many people but quite a daunting task in their back yard. I suppose it's a bit like going into the lions' den.

"Our previous results in the competition haven't been that good and it's going to be a tough ask, playing against teams like Thailand and Malaysia who have professional leagues.

"We're just looking to give a good account of ourselves. It's going to be an uphill task but it would be nice to get a win on the board.

"Football is developing in the Philippines. It plays second fiddle to basketball, which gets a lot of media attention and most of the funding. They've got a semi-pro football league and they're looking to build up the youth set-up.

"The problem is that there's not a lot of quality coaching throughout the country, the facilities aren't very good and there aren't a lot of pitches. In England, football it is part of the culture. Here it isn't yet.

"I'm really happy for Dan Harding, Adam Hinshelwood and Adam Virgo. I am glad they've gone on from the youth team to bigger and better things, but my long-term goal is to get back into the professional game in Europe or Asia.

"There are opportunities out there and it's just a question of putting myself in the shop window."