Bradley Lowery, the five-year-old Sunderland fan who is battling cancer, will lead England out in their World Cup qualifier against Lithuania on March 26, according to reports.
Lowery, who is terminally ill, has won the backing of football fans across the country during his battle with neuroblastoma.
The five-year-old, who is from Blackhall, County Durham, led out Sunderland against Everton earlier this season, and on that occasion the Merseyside pledged £200,000 to an appeal towards paying for ground-breaking treatment in the U.S.
Bradley Lowery - @Bradleysfight - to help lead out England with mascot role: https://t.co/GVjHkze7LS #NorthEast pic.twitter.com/D5jEf6FLzb
- Sunderland Echo (@SunderlandEcho) February 24, 2017
Then Everton invited Bradley to be their mascot for their home game against Manchester City, which they won 4-0, and he was carried out onto the pitch by striker Romelu Lukaku, wore his Sunderland kit underneath an Everton training top and waved to cheering fans.
Wow what an amazing time we have had, thankyou @Everton you really are the people's club #CancerHasNoColours pic.twitter.com/Zxyml96a5A
- Bradley Lowery (@Bradleysfight) January 15, 2017
Bradley was just two years old when he was originally diagnosed with cancer and his mother Gemma recently revealed that he was fighting a new tumour.
"We are absolutely devastated having found this new tumour growing on Bradley's back," she told ITV News Tyne Tees on Thursday. "He is undergoing a bone marrow biopsy today, and we won't know the results of that for approximately one week, so we are just going to try and have some family time until we know all the official results."
Earlier this month, his goal in the warm-up during Sunderland's game against Chelsea was picked as Match of the Day's goal of the month.
Information from the Press Association was used in this report.