This has been a topic of a lot of discussion in Mexico, whether or not players not born in a certain country be able to play for that country.

Hugo Sanchez, former Real Madrid super striker said if the new Mexico coach Lavolpe calls up a foreign player he will be the first one to attack him verbally.

what do u guys think? Should players be called up on their merits and not on their birthplace?

Kalu Uche wants to play for Poland.

Australia has had many problems with this.

We have lost a lot of players to Croatia, simply because they're ancestry links them to it.

We lost Vieri to Italy, although I don't know if he was born in Aus or Italy, I believe his parents were italian. Nonetheless he still 'learnt the trade' as a kid in Aus before moving to Italy.

As long as players are still uncapped to represent a country, I think it should be all right to represent that country. Having a birth certificate in one country doesn't mean he'll be a patriotic person; in which he should be generally.

It would be more complicated issue if a player has represented another country, say country A; then he wants to play one day to a country B. This is not welcomed at all, IMO.

Although a player might have lack of chances by calling up into a NT, a player decides to choose another country (assuming he's still uncapped). This time, I don't mind at all. It's a player's career, so, I'd agree on this.

I think it should be allowed..
But I really dont understand are those players first one nationality then another? Or is it just that there from one place but just werent born there...
Well I was born here in Nicaragua but my nationality is Spanish so like if I supposly play for the Spain NT will it be the same problem as what Hugo Sanchez doesn want ?! :confused:

its like Gabriel Caballero for example who played for Mexico in the World Cup.

He was born in Argentina and like a year ago he obtained Mexican citizenship, which is what Hugo Sanchez is against, people not born in Mexico playing for Mexico

Pablo Mastreoni (SP?) is an Argentine playing for the US, he moved here when he was 4 -- i'm glad he did too :)

Owen Hargreaves (or 'Whoregreaves' as some say) is a Canadian playing for England, but plays club in Germany.

Christian Vieri Went to the Australian institute of sport on then screwed us by playing for italy ... he was funded through out his juniors by the AIS (government agency)

thats why i love true aussies like Kostya Zu :p

Originally posted by finger
Australia has had many problems with this.

We have lost a lot of players to Croatia, simply because they're ancestry links them to it.

We lost Vieri to Italy, although I don't know if he was born in Aus or Italy, I believe his parents were italian. Nonetheless he still 'learnt the trade' as a kid in Aus before moving to Italy.

Umm no, we didnt lost vieri to italy. He was born there, and came here when he was 6 and moved back when he was 13 or 14.

I dunno if you can really "learn the trade" at age 8 or 9... but anyways, vieri is not ours.

However, players like josip simunic who is a good\decent defender, what australia needs, anthony seric, and joey didulica is threatning to play for the croas.

Simunic screwed us over, he was born and bred, but since he wasnt selected as a u21(which offended him) he ran off.

Seric just decided to play for croatia.

2 of the biggest betrayers in the world

Well I was born here in Nicaragua but my nationality is Spanish so like if I supposly play for the Spain NT will it be the same problem as what Hugo Sanchez doesn want

But you were born in that country ive never heard of, and unfortunately, that is your parents nationality, not yours. You are nicaraguafhaldasld citizen.

Players like zizou, viera(just find a list of french natio team) and you will see betrayers.

Originally posted by maddog1983
Christian Vieri Went to the Australian institute of sport on then screwed us by playing for italy ... he was funded through out his juniors by the AIS (government agency)

thats why i love true aussies like Kostya Zu :p

How did he screw us over? Was he born here? How long did he live here? like 9 years atmost... and plus, you'd have to be real dumb to chose australia(even though he isnt australian) over italy(which he is)...

Its just common sense for vieri, would he play for perrinial WCQ chokers? Or One of the giants?

Originally posted by ffours
How did he screw us over? Was he born here? How long did he live here? like 9 years atmost... and plus, you'd have to be real dumb to chose australia(even though he isnt australian) over italy(which he is)...

Its just common sense for vieri, would he play for perrinial WCQ chokers? Or One of the giants?

how did he screw us ?

he used Australia's Institute of Sport to further his career and then plays for italy ? why didnt he go to italy's institute of sport then ? Plus he lived here for 14 years he grew up here .. he also loves cricket and i saw him interviewed and his hero is "allan Border" if hes not aussie i dont know who is .. his parents still live here .. i have an english father doesnt mean if i get called up to england i'd chose to play for them .. harry cool is the perfect example ..lots of pressure on him could have played for england chose to play for aussie now hes a national hero

Originally posted by maddog1983
how did he screw us ?

he used Australia's Institute of Sport to further his career and then plays for italy ? why didnt he go to italy's institute of sport then ? Plus he lived here for 14 years he grew up here .. he also loves cricket and i saw him interviewed and his hero is "allan Border" if hes not aussie i dont know who is .. his parents still live here .. i have an english father doesnt mean if i get called up to england i'd chose to play for them .. harry cool is the perfect example ..lots of pressure on him could have played for england chose to play for aussie now hes a national hero

Harry Kewell is a perfect example, in my favour.

He grew up there, but does he play for them? NO

Vieri came here when he was 6(how does he have a say at age 6??) Then he decides when hes 13 or 14 that he wants to play in his HOME country.

Harry Kewell was an unkown at leeds, thommo brought him in at age 17.

"if hes not aussie i dont know who is"

Ugh, 1) He wasnt born here 2) He lived here 10 years tops(not sure on exact years, but it was 10 years maximum) 3) His heart was never with Australia

Are you sure he used the AIS? GIve me a source... i dunno if a year 7 kid(well thats prob when he left, at the end of primary school) can play in the AIS.

And who cares if he likes cricket?

Should sachin tendaulker play for australia cause of bradman?

It depends. If player really identifies with his new country and he lived there for a long time (e.g. Kolse) I don't see why not. But when he obtains citizenship just to play international football (like Olisadebe who still has problems speaking Polish) I'm against.

Mario Jardel has now got Portugese citizenship which means he can make his debut for Portugal if he or the coach decides. What about Cudicini? what would you choose england or italy? (if u were him). Silvinho is also trying to become spanish too, has he played for brazil before?

Originally posted by mufc_daddy
Mario Jardel has now got Portugese citizenship which means he can make his debut for Portugal if he or the coach decides.

Actually, he can't bcs he already played for Brazil's NT a couple of times. FIFA is looking into this rule as we speak, and there's a chance they'll change it in the near future. I hope they don't, because I'd hate to see players being 'transfered' from one country to the other, for all the reasons except being truly identified with that very same country.
Having said that, I wish we'd had the best goal-scorer of the world playing for us in the Euro2000 and WC2002. There's no way we would lose.:p

We're having this discussion here in Portugal atm because another brazilian, Deco, is also portuguese since the last month and eligible to play for us. Now he's good enough to play in any, make that in ANY team in the world, but some feel he shouldn't play in our NT, no matter what.
Well, he's not a lunatic like Jardel, but the Sporting striker has lived here for the past 6 or 7 years and has 2 portuguese kids...
Ahh, it's a tough choice, since Deco is not that identified with our culture yet, I still don't see him as one of ours.
Ultimately, however, I want him to play here, because that will definitely help bringing Portugal and the many Brazilian emigrants together, like it did in France with the Algerians.

I think my case is a good example. I was born in Germany but I'm half british, half swiss so if I were a footballer I could either pick to play for Northern Ireland or Switzerland not for Germany because I have no connections to Germany at all (except being born there) so it's nonsense to say that a footballer must represent the country he was born in, how can he? A footballer has to represent the country of his nationality and if he has dual nationality then he can choose. It's not like in Rugby that if your great great granddad lived in Wales for 3 years that you are eliginle to play for Wales:rolleyes:

sorry, double post

i dont mind the idea of havin a foriegn player with a scottish dad/mum playin for us if he really wants to pull on a navy shirt. otherwise, piss off. i dont like Scott Dobie in the team, who's granny was scottish but moved to england after the war :f***: I would only include one english player in my scotland squad....



PAUL DEVLIN = LEGEND

Originally posted by INFESTA
Actually, he can't bcs he already played for Brazil's NT a couple of times. FIFA is looking into this rule as we speak, and there's a chance they'll change it in the near future. I hope they don't, because I'd hate to see players being 'transfered' from one country to the other, for all the reasons except being truly identified with that very same country.
Having said that, I wish we'd had the best goal-scorer of the world playing for us in the Euro2000 and WC2002. There's no way we would lose.:p

We're having this discussion here in Portugal atm because another brazilian, Deco, is also portuguese since the last month and eligible to play for us. Now he's good enough to play in any, make that in ANY team in the world, but some feel he shouldn't play in our NT, no matter what.
Well, he's not a lunatic like Jardel, but the Sporting striker has lived here for the past 6 or 7 years and has 2 portuguese kids...
Ahh, it's a tough choice, since Deco is not that identified with our culture yet, I still don't see him as one of ours.
Ultimately, however, I want him to play here, because that will definitely help bringing Portugal and the many Brazilian emigrants together, like it did in France with the Algerians.

Deco has now a portuguese kid as well :)

and he's been living in Portugal for 6 years, otherwise he couldn't get the portuguese nationality... i think 6 years are enougth to get within a countrys culture, and if u notice Deco as lost some of his brazillian accent :D , wich means something ;)
i think Deco should play for our nt since our players for that position (A.M.) or are getting old (Rui Costa), or are to young and don't have many experience yet (Hugo Viana), and of course is always good to have several good players for the same position, there's always some1 to fill in without losing quality in the gameplay :)

In reference to what someone was saying about FIFA looking into players playing for multiple countries.

That was only for those that had played competitive matches for youth squads like the under 21's/23's so on.

An Australian example of this is Tim Cahill of Millwall who played for a Western Samoan youth team when he was about 15 or something, and despite being told it wouldn't count for anything by Soccer Australia, it still counted as him played for Western Samoa. Despite being Australian in every sense of the word.

Of course the problem with players who can switch teams, is that the possibility of some star from say Mongolia, who could then play for Japan because he feels they will offer a better wage and international possibilities, despite being mongolian.

Originally posted by ffours
But you were born in that country ive never heard of, and unfortunately, that is your parents nationality, not yours. You are nicaraguafhaldasld citizen.

Damn you need some geography classes :kader:
And my nationality is Spanish so why do you say its my parents?
And im not a Nicaraguan Citizen...
Heres a small map so you know where Nicaragua is :rolleyes:
http://http://go.hrw.com/atlas/locator/nicragua.gif

Originally posted by AberdeenFC
i dont mind the idea of havin a foriegn player with a scottish dad/mum playin for us if he really wants to pull on a navy shirt. otherwise, piss off. i dont like Scott Dobie in the team, who's granny was scottish but moved to england after the war :f***: I would only include one english player in my scotland squad....



PAUL DEVLIN = LEGEND

I'll agree with that. English 1st division rejects have ruined Scotland's football and pride, something which we might not recover from. Why does he insist on calling up crap from the English first division. The worst players that have played for us recently are all the guys from down south - Caldwell, Stockdale, Kyle, Jobby(Dobie), the list is endless.The only player that should be called up from England are Naysmith, Cameron, Miller and Devlin. I don't see why he even needs to call up another wing back. Naysmith, McFadden, Ross and Devlin should be the first picks for any game. With guys like Webster, Severin, Murray, Wilkie, Anderson, McGuire, Nicholson, even Rae(he's better than Dobie) why does Vogts continue to pick crap from down south who aren't even getting their game most of the time?

Originally posted by nicafifa
Damn you need some geography classes :kader:
And my nationality is Spanish so why do you say its my parents?
And im not a Nicaraguan Citizen...
Heres a small map so you know where Nicaragua is :rolleyes:
http://http://go.hrw.com/atlas/locator/nicragua.gif

Umm, that isnt even in europe.

Your not spanish, if your life depended on it, plain and simple.

Your born and bred in that hole.

Originally posted by ffours
Umm, that isnt even in europe.

Your not spanish, if your life depended on it, plain and simple.

Your born and bred in that hole.
Of course its not in Europe! Whoever said it was there? :rolleyes:
And how the hell am I Nicaraguan?! I dont even have a passport for Nicaragua..And my life depends on my nationality as my parents work for the UN..

deco is really a great att. midfielder!!!

it's a shame he can't get into the brazilian NT, he can definitely play regularly in any other national team!!!

brazil just full of talented players, i think we can have 2 brazilian NT and both of them can get into the semi final in the world cup!

i am not against the idea of foreign player playing for the national team, because, haha, in hong kong, we did have a few in the past!

Originally posted by HeartsFC
With guys like Webster, Severin, Murray, Wilkie, Anderson, McGuire, Nicholson, even Rae

the sad thing is, only one of them got into the last scotland squad, when they should ALL have been!! VOGTS OUT! :f***:

It depends. If player really identifies with his new country and he lived there for a long time (e.g. Kolse) I don't see why not. But when he obtains citizenship just to play international football (like Olisadebe who still has problems speaking Polish) I'm against.

I completely agree with this. Players should only play for their country if they identify with them. Whether they were born there is not a matter. There are plenty of people who weren't born in certain countries but will feel part of it. John Barnes, for example, was born in Jamaica, and his father actually represented Jamaica in football, but he was a proud England international.

Ultimately, however, I want him to play here, because that will definitely help bringing Portugal and the many Brazilian emigrants together, like it did in France with the Algerians.

A very good point. Many people in certain countries are calling for 'immigrants' or 'foreigners' to blend more into local culture and then they're calling for these people not to represent their national team. Make up your mind.

Umm, that isnt even in europe.
Your not spanish, if your life depended on it, plain and simple.
Your born and bred in that hole.

What a pile of bull. Whether Nicaragua is in Europe is of no consequence in this argument and calling Nicaragua a 'hole' can be considered a racist comment. :kader:

About Owen Hargreaves. Yes he was born and raised here, but his father is English. That gives him eligibility to play for England. And I don't blame him. First off, Canada doesn't have enough faith in the soccer to fund the game nearly enough. Second, England is a powerhouse, Canada? lol. And finally, Owen tried out on many occasions for the Canadian national teams(at different levels), and was always denied. Their loss.
Yeah, I'm speaking harsh about my own country, but for some reason it just doesn't care for the sport at a high level. 'Tis a shame.

Originally posted by nicafifa
Of course its not in Europe! Whoever said it was there? :rolleyes:
And how the hell am I Nicaraguan?! I dont even have a passport for Nicaragua..And my life depends on my nationality as my parents work for the UN..

Ugh, werent u born\live there?

Why do i need to take geography lessons? I dont care about that rut you live in.

Your not spanish, bottom line. YOUR PARENTS ARE!

What a pile of bull. Whether Nicaragua is in Europe is of no consequence in this argument and calling Nicaragua a 'hole' can be considered a racist comment.

He isnt spanish, that was what i was trying to say. His parents are.

What about all the "aussies"?? I guess there is none, considering everyone has blood of a different country.

If thats what your trying to say...

the blood lines may be different, yes, but if you are born in australia you are automatically granted an australian citizenship (or so i believe)

What about all the "aussies"?? I guess there is none, considering everyone has blood of a different country.
that is an ignorant comment. if your argument is valid, there would be no argentinians because most of them have spanish roots, no brazilians because of their portuguese roots, no americans because of their english roots. ridiculous :kader:

my parents are korean, but i was born here, so that makes me an australian with a korean background. really, the only things that separates australians nowadays is their appearance.

otherwise they are all true blue aussies ;)

Originally posted by bk146
the blood lines may be different, yes, but if you are born in australia you are automatically granted an australian citizenship (or so i believe)


that is an ignorant comment. if your argument is valid, there would be no argentinians because most of them have spanish roots, no brazilians because of their portuguese roots, no americans because of their english roots. ridiculous :kader:

my parents are korean, but i was born here, so that makes me an australian with a korean background. really, the only things that separates australians nowadays is their appearance.

otherwise they are all true blue aussies ;)

Yes your parents are korean, thats what i was trying to say to the guy that's country isnt anywhere near spain.

But you are australian, he is nicagura(lets hope i was right) and his parents are spanish.

In a way you've just supported my claims.

was that guy born in nicaragua?

btw my last post was directed at that comment that "there are no real "aussies" because they all have different blood"

Originally posted by bk146
was that guy born in nicaragua?

Yes :$
Hey ffours but when I enter a country I enter it as Spanish and I have to go to the Spanish embassy and stuff to get a new passport and stuff :confused: so I think im spanish?! :crazyboy:

Originally posted by ffours
.

Simunic screwed us over, he was born and bred, but since he wasnt selected as a u21(which offended him) he ran off.

Seric just decided to play for croatia.

2 of the biggest betrayers in the world




Betrayers my a$$, if you can't play for whom your heart tells you to play for, why play at all? :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Dragan T
Betrayers my a$$, if you can't play for whom your heart tells you to play for, why play at all? :rolleyes:

Umm, if they wanted to play for croatia, they should've lived there, and waste their tax payers money instead of ours(australians)

They came to our AIS to learn their football trade, lived in our country, born and bred, and all of a sudden have a change of mind to play for a different country??


Hey ffours but when I enter a country I enter it as Spanish and I have to go to the Spanish embassy and stuff to get a new passport and stuff so I think im spanish?!

Embarresed of the country you were born and bred in?

Like i said, i could say im 100% spanish, but im not because i wasnt born there.

Originally posted by finger
Australia has had many problems with this.

We have lost a lot of players to Croatia, simply because they're ancestry links them to it.

We lost Vieri to Italy, although I don't know if he was born in Aus or Italy, I believe his parents were italian. Nonetheless he still 'learnt the trade' as a kid in Aus before moving to Italy.
Vieri was born in Western Sydney.

Originally posted by captain-beckham
Vieri was born in Western Sydney.

No he wasn't. Check any place, he was born in Bologna, and came to australia when he was 3, and lived in leidchart while his dad played for sydney croatia.

Originally posted by captain-beckham
Vieri was born in Western Sydney.

please get your facts right, he was born in italy. moved to australia when he was very young (3 or 4 i think?)

Originally posted by ffours

Your not spanish, bottom line. YOUR PARENTS ARE!



He isnt spanish, that was what i was trying to say. His parents are.


How can his parents be spanish and he isn't. It doesn't work like that. You take the nationality after your parents and if your parents are both different nationals then you get a dual nationality.
If your mum and dad are American and you were born in China while your dad was stationed there in the army then that makes you an American and not chinese whatsoever.

Originally posted by ffours
Embarresed of the country you were born and bred in?
Umm..No :kader: Of course im not embarrased of Nicaragua :rolleyes: And Ive lived more time in other countries than Nicaragua...4 Years in Dominican Republic (Its an Island in the Caribean:rolleyes: ) and 4 years in Panama..Im only here in Nicaragua because of the UN...And the UN recognizes me as Spanish so I dont care what you say..

"Hey guys, i lived in the bahamas for 3 years, lived in new zealand for 2, australia for 3, england for 5, canada for 7, but im an african, i dont care what you say."


p.s it was a joke.

Originally posted by ffours
Umm no, we didnt lost vieri to italy. He was born there, and came here when he was 6 and moved back when he was 13 or 14.

I dunno if you can really "learn the trade" at age 8 or 9... but anyways, vieri is not ours.

However, players like josip simunic who is a good\decent defender, what australia needs, anthony seric, and joey didulica is threatning to play for the croas.

Simunic screwed us over, he was born and bred, but since he wasnt selected as a u21(which offended him) he ran off.

Seric just decided to play for croatia.

2 of the biggest betrayers in the world



But you were born in that country ive never heard of, and unfortunately, that is your parents nationality, not yours. You are nicaraguafhaldasld citizen.

Players like zizou, viera(just find a list of french natio team) and you will see betrayers.
lets hope in the end Ivan Ergic, and Jamie McMaster both have changes of heart before representing Yugoslavia and England respectively in full 'A' international.

Australias problem is that players dont want to represent a nation who doesnt go to the World Cup, and doesnt get to participate in the big events..

Tim Cahill is a weird one.

Becos my understanding is that players have changed after U21's (Matteo from Leeds went from England 21's to Scotland A team...he even was in an england squad once but was never capped...)...So Why Cahill cant play I dont know..Unless it was a ful strength American Samoa, and he didnt know it...His little brother hasnt made the same mistake anyawy ;)

Cheers
sKIp_E

Originally posted by HeartsFC
I'll agree with that. English 1st division rejects have ruined Scotland's football and pride, something which we might not recover from. Why does he insist on calling up crap from the English first division. The worst players that have played for us recently are all the guys from down south - Caldwell, Stockdale, Kyle, Jobby(Dobie), the list is endless.The only player that should be called up from England are Naysmith, Cameron, Miller and Devlin. I don't see why he even needs to call up another wing back. Naysmith, McFadden, Ross and Devlin should be the first picks for any game. With guys like Webster, Severin, Murray, Wilkie, Anderson, McGuire, Nicholson, even Rae(he's better than Dobie) why does Vogts continue to pick crap from down south who aren't even getting their game most of the time?
All scottish reps from down south are bad??? Matteo? I think when Dom played for you guyshe did nothing but good...He was oh so close to playing for england, and thats where he played all his club footy..

Originally posted by ffours
"Hey guys, i lived in the bahamas for 3 years, lived in new zealand for 2, australia for 3, england for 5, canada for 7, but im an african, i dont care what you say."


p.s it was a joke.
And that means..:rolleyes:

Originally posted by sKIp_E
lets hope in the end Ivan Ergic, and Jamie McMaster both have changes of heart before representing Yugoslavia and England respectively in full 'A' international.

Australias problem is that players dont want to represent a nation who doesnt go to the World Cup, and doesnt get to participate in the big events..

Tim Cahill is a weird one.

Becos my understanding is that players have changed after U21's (Matteo from Leeds went from England 21's to Scotland A team...he even was in an england squad once but was never capped...)...So Why Cahill cant play I dont know..Unless it was a ful strength American Samoa, and he didnt know it...His little brother hasnt made the same mistake anyawy ;)

Cheers
sKIp_E

I believe that once you play for a nation(not just sitting on the bench) like cahill did, you are not able to play for another country.

That is why its imperlative we get didulica and bosnar to put on the green and gold, or we may lose them to croatia!

Originally posted by sKIp_E
lets hope in the end Ivan Ergic, and Jamie McMaster both have changes of heart before representing Yugoslavia and England respectively in full 'A' international.

Australias problem is that players dont want to represent a nation who doesnt go to the World Cup, and doesnt get to participate in the big events..

Tim Cahill is a weird one.

Becos my understanding is that players have changed after U21's (Matteo from Leeds went from England 21's to Scotland A team...he even was in an england squad once but was never capped...)...So Why Cahill cant play I dont know..Unless it was a ful strength American Samoa, and he didnt know it...His little brother hasnt made the same mistake anyawy ;)

Cheers
sKIp_E

As for Ivan Ergic .. He plays for the U-21 team and will play for the Yugoslavian NT .. doesnt matter if you were born in Germany or Canada and trained there while you were really Russian, you should play for youre home and youre counry .. And Ivan Ergic which has showed some class for Basel .. will soon find his spot on the Yugo NT

The rule is that if you are born in a country you get the nationality of your parents and the one from that country, which is double nationality, and you can play for whatever team you want, but once you made a choice you can not play for the other team.

Example.. your parents are from holland and you are born in spain, if you get national team cap, you get to choose between holland and spain, but if you play for spain, you can not ever play for holland

Originally posted by valioso
The rule is that if you are born in a country you get the nationality of your parents and the one from that country, which is double nationality, and you can play for whatever team you want, but once you made a choice you can not play for the other team.

Example.. your parents are from holland and you are born in spain, if you get national team cap, you get to choose between holland and spain, but if you play for spain, you can not ever play for holland
That's not true actually. You don't automatically get the nationality of the country you were born in but you can apply for it, no problem.

Originally posted by nicafifa
Umm..No :kader: Of course im not embarrased of Nicaragua :rolleyes: And Ive lived more time in other countries than Nicaragua...4 Years in Dominican Republic (Its an Island in the Caribean:rolleyes: ) and 4 years in Panama..Im only here in Nicaragua because of the UN...And the UN recognizes me as Spanish so I dont care what you say..

This guy gets both, Spanish and Nicaraguan, well depending if Spain or Nicaragua allow dual-citizenship. My parents are Colombian, I was born in Colombia, and my brother was born here in the US, hes got dual citizenship because both US and Colombia allows it, if they didn't allow it, he would only be American, cause he was born here (US).

And on whether or not foreing players should play on other countries NT, I'm against it, unless they have dual citizenship (by being born in one country with parents from another, not just by becoming citizens of that country) and also, I believe that once you play from countries' A NT, you won't be able to play for countries' B NT even if you have dual citizenship of A and B, and I think it should stay that way, or else there won't be any way of gauging the athletes that individual countries put out.

Basically you can play for any one of the 4 following situations, but you may only select one country, basically once you have played for a country you cannot change:

1. Country of your birth
2. Country of permanent residency
3. Country of parents decent
4. Country of grand parents decent

So I could play for Australia, England or Wales.

Originally posted by Gareth
Basically you can play for any one of the 4 following situations, but you may only select one country, basically once you have played for a country you cannot change:

1. Country of your birth
2. Country of permanent residency
3. Country of parents decent
4. Country of grand parents decent

So I could play for Australia, England or Wales.

as long as you can trace your lineage to that country you can play there?

The reason why Cahill is bound to Samoa is because it was a FIFA run tournament, whereas some of these games with the English youth's who go to Scotland, likely played in un-official matches.

Originally posted by LOCOlombia
as long as you can trace your lineage to that country you can play there?

No, just up to your grandparents, and adoptive parents doesn't count.

I think you SHOULD play for the country of your birth, or the country of the birth of your parents, and that's about it. Then there's the matter of permanent residency, and if the player is patriotic about that country, and not just trying to get a passport so he can play international football, then I'll say fair enough as well.

ok well can anyone answer me this:

i was born in El Salvador(moved to the US when i was 2) but i became a U.S. citizen...now do i still have a choice between both?
personally i consider my self Salvadorean and i would represent El Salvador even if i would never take place in a world cup.. not that i have anything against the US becuase to me i was rasied here and i love this country,but i guess mostly becuase of my father i would represent El Salvador..of course playing for the great red/white/and blue would also bring me pride...

now here's another:
i am Salvadorean(born in El Salvador) and am a nationalized US citizen(oh yeah and also my grandmother is Italian decent), my wife is half Mexican(her mothers side) and half Ecuadorean(father) and she was born here in the US.

now can some one answer me this: i have a son and i hope that when he grows up he becomes a pro soccer player.
now son was born here in the US so wouldn't he be able to to chose to play for:
USA-El Salvador-Ecuador-Mexico and Italy( cuz of my grandmother)

kinda confusing and i know some one will probably make fun of all the nationalities( hell i'm confused:crazyboy: )

He could chose USA, El Salvador, Mexico, or Ecuador, his Great Gandmother would be Italian, to far to trace, however YOU could play for Italy.

Why does it really matter for us SG users to know what nationality we would be "if" we were full time proffesional players?

ALl of us are not, so therefore forget it, and just say you are for example:

I was born in "x" so im "x"

Originally posted by El Che
ok well can anyone answer me this:

i was born in El Salvador(moved to the US when i was 2) but i became a U.S. citizen...now do i still have a choice between both?
personally i consider my self Salvadorean and i would represent El Salvador even if i would never take place in a world cup.. not that i have anything against the US becuase to me i was rasied here and i love this country,but i guess mostly becuase of my father i would represent El Salvador..of course playing for the great red/white/and blue would also bring me pride...

now here's another:
i am Salvadorean(born in El Salvador) and am a nationalized US citizen(oh yeah and also my grandmother is Italian decent), my wife is half Mexican(her mothers side) and half Ecuadorean(father) and she was born here in the US.

now can some one answer me this: i have a son and i hope that when he grows up he becomes a pro soccer player.
now son was born here in the US so wouldn't he be able to to chose to play for:
USA-El Salvador-Ecuador-Mexico and Italy( cuz of my grandmother)

kinda confusing and i know some one will probably make fun of all the nationalities( hell i'm confused:crazyboy: )

You could play for Italy, but your son cannot. The trace only goes back to grandparents, and not great-grandparents.

Originally posted by Ljungberg08
He could chose USA, El Salvador, Mexico, or Ecuador, his Great Gandmother would be Italian, to far to trace, however YOU could play for Italy.


thanx... also thanx to digitariuos for ur answers