Players
who are born in Europe while having African parents or born in Africa and
raised in Europe are doing it often. Same players that represent a European
country at junior level, then opt for an African country at senior level.
Why are players doing
this?
In
most cases, they fail to make it to international’s senior level, and they know
that here in Africa they’ll be accepted with warm hands. Another reason could be competition is too
tight in a way that this players start on the bench unless a regular starters
are injured or suspended. Every player wants to participate in World Cup or
major international tournaments, so they opt for Africa when things are not
good on the other side.
Never
mind the World Cup or major tournament, players are aware that in international
duty gives them more exposure and could see them attract big clubs if currently
at a smaller one. It goes without saying that, a call up is assured when opted
for a lowly African side after having spent almost whole junior level at
Europe.
Yacine Brahimi,
the scorer for Granada on weekend against Barcelona is now representing
Algeria, after playing for France at junior level. They are a lot of his kind
out there including the Boeteng brothers where one represents Ghana while the
other represents Germany. If I could list all players who does that the list
could be very long, but you do get the picture so far right? I didn’t
hesitating writing after the game.
I
believe it frustrates other players who have been patiently waiting for a call
up, play for their birth country without shame, yet new members get the chance
to play in every feature. Though I’m not saying there should be hating or abuse
on the new guys.
Elsewhere,
there is a battle between countries for a Manchester United youngster (Adnan
Januzaj). He is eligible to represent any of those countries. Now you see how
crazy is the international transfer? So we are yet to find out which country
he’ll play for.
What FIFA says
regarding these matters?
Below
it’s a summary of what article 15, 16, 17 and 18 say regarding national
eligibility.
1.
A player can play for any country for whom they hold a permanent nationality.
2.
A player who has more than one nationality, acquires a new one or is able to
play for several sides can, on one occasion up to their 21st birthday, request
to change countries, provided that:
a)
The player has not played in a competitive match for his current association.
b)
At the time of that appearance they already had the nationality of the country
they now wished to play for.
3.
If a player wants to get a completely new nationality, then one of the
following must be met:
(a)Be
born on the territory of the association.
(b)Have
a biological mother, biological father or grandparent born on that territory.
(c)
Have lived continuously on that territory for at least five years after
reaching the age of 18.
4.
The player can play in an international match for one of these associations
only if, in addition to having the relevant nationality, he fulfils at least
one of the following conditions:
(a)Be
born on the territory of the association.
(b)Have
a biological mother, biological father or grandparent born on that territory.
(c)
Have lived continuously on that territory for at least two years.
Players
are well aware of the above information; hence they choose nationality like
they are choosing clubs. These guys are basically not violating any rule here.
Should
FIFA change the rules? Are the rules good for both countries and players? In
terms of a benefiting party is completely up to how an individual looks at it.
I’m against it, but that’s just me.
These
lads should be playing with pride when ever playing for their countries, “eat
grass and sweat blood”. Countries in this instance I refer to country of birth
of course. They shouldn’t be listening to offers from different countries which
are interested in their services. Yes, football is a short career, yes, they
want to end their careers with good names, so that says it all on why they do
this moves.
Players
are just expanding their options. Pity to the ones who don’t have alternatives
and not receiving national team ups due to squad now had to make room for
people who just changed their nationality. Other lads will end up getting calls
up just before hanging the boots.
Laws
can be reviewed and revised, but for time being, we just have to go with the
current rules. Go on lads – enjoy the international transfers while it last.
What’s
your opinion on the matter? Please do leave your comment. You can also follow
me on twitter
@ntophonic and share your views. You are certainly not
obliged to agree with me.
Hope
you enjoyed reading and you’ve learnt a thing or two.
