while playing for queens park rangers, carlisle was selected to play for the england national under-21 team on three occasions. he was called up to the squad by howard wilkinson, and made his debut for his country on 31 august 2000, coming on as a substitute in england's 6–1 friendly victory over georgia at the riverside stadium in middlesbrough. his second appearance for england, also from the substitutes' bench, came in a 2002 uefa european under-21 championship qualifying match on 6 october 2000 in the 1–1 draw with germany at pride park. he played his third and final match for england four days later, again coming on as a substitute in the 2–2 draw with finland at the tehtaan kenttä stadium in valkeakoski. despite playing well in the second half of the match, he was not selected for the under-21 team again.