Footballers To Switch Allegiance And Represent Second National Team
FIFA have announced their intention to help footballers switch allegiance to represent a second national team with a historic new rule change.
In the build-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, former FC Barcelona forward Munir El Haddadi dominated headlines as he was refused the opportunity to represent Morocco due to a 13-minute cameo in a UEFA Euro qualifier with Spain as a teenager.
At the time of his debut for La Roja under Vincente De Bosque, Munir was 18-year-old and enjoying a breakthrough season at the LaLiga giants. However, after falling out of favour at Barcelona and the national team the African side came calling.
But under the current FIFA laws, he was ineligible to make the switch due to representing Spain in an official continental qualifying fixture, which the Atlas Lions went as far to reach out to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS).
Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) were eventually denied the appeal but with the new proposed rule, the Sevilla star is likely to become illegible for the North African powerhouse.
Who else can take advantage?
According to the document obtained, if players played who have played a maximum of three games for their first national team before the age of 21 at least three years to their request to switch, will meet the requirements.
A working group within the world football governing body has been working on the proposal over the past 24 months and will now be presented to the 211 national federations to approve it at the Zurich-based congress next month.
However, it is important to note, the likes of former Chelsea playmaker Oscar and Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema, who both suggested they would switch national teams, will remain ineligible.
Oscar, who featured 47 times for Brazil claimed he would be open to representing China, while Benzema, who’s been out of the France squad since the 2014 World Cup threatened to represent Algeria.
But with their involvement in more than three games and having represented their nation at a ‘final tournament of the FIFA World Cup or a final tournament of a confederation competition’ it ruled them out completely.
The new rule also proposes that a player can switch to their original nationality if they failed to represent their second nation – which has become more prevalent in the modern era with dual nationalism.
Several players have represented countries of birth at youth level before going on to represent senior national teams of their parents or grandparents heritage – while some also became eligible after gaining citizenship after staying in the country for a specific period of time.
It’s been suggested the main focus on the rules is to help young footballers who departed their original countries with their family at a young age for non-sporting reasons.