Re: If a player isn't born in a country, should he be allowed to play for it?

by Lex Thu Oct 10, 2013 12:13 am

Addressing what Ganso said, being able to change national teams even after playing in international friendlies is a joke

by LeBéninois Thu Oct 10, 2013 12:16 am

The problem here is that most of you might have greats ideas but there will always be some situations where your idea fail.
It's not like there is one and ONLY one solution about this problem as it goes beyond football boundaries.

It might be unfortunate for '' small '' countries to get robbed but it's nothing new , '' small '' countries ( like where i grew up ) get robbed much more than potential good players.

by McLewis Thu Oct 10, 2013 1:33 am

If you are a citizen of the nation you want to play for and you truly love this nation, nothing should stop you from playing for it. Frak the naysayers.

You don't have to have yellow skin and slanted eyes to play for Japan or China just like you don't need to be black as night to play for Ivory Coast or South Africa. I've already read comments exactly alluding to that in this thread and that is discrimination pure and simple.

We Americans are very accepting of those who come here, become legal citizens and become forces for good in this country. If a Bosnian refugee comes here in the 90s, starts a family and their kid wants to play for the USA. You can bet your ass he'll be considered an American through and through. That's how we roll. I personally think the rest of the world has a lot of catching up to do in terms of that type of inclusiveness.

by Jack Daniels Thu Oct 10, 2013 1:40 am

I think I'm gonna get an Italian Citizenship, marry a Spanish woman, make a baby in Brazil and train him in Germany then sell him to the highest bidding nation.

by CBarca Thu Oct 10, 2013 1:51 am

I agree completely with Mclewis, who would probably agree with BC, who I also agree with.

by DeletedUser#1 Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:30 am

Do you guys agree with Qatar neutralizing people from Uruguay and paraguay and playing them as Qatari players ? (Example, Sebastian Soria).

by Pedram Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:46 am

Natalie Portman wrote:Do you guys agree with Qatar neutralizing people from Uruguay and paraguay and playing them as Qatari players ? (Example, Sebastian Soria).

They are a small country and can't produce enough talent, it is acceptable for them to resort to neutralizing foreign players.

by DeletedUser#1 Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:56 am

Pedram wrote:
Natalie Portman wrote:Do you guys agree with Qatar neutralizing people from Uruguay and paraguay and playing them as Qatari players ? (Example, Sebastian Soria).
They are a small country and can't produce enough talent, it is acceptable for them to resort to neutralizing foreign players.

But it kills the spirit of national team and the whole point it stands for.

National Team = a team where every player is from one nation.

People on GL mostly have zero patriotism or care for international football, hence they are okay with it. It's totally acceptable if the player has some sort of blood or emotional tie to the country through being raised or born there, but to just take someone, and after a few years in adulthood, change his nationality is bang out of order for me.

Qatar can't find their own talents ? well, tough shit man. Go invest in another sport other than football.

by FalcaoPunch Thu Oct 10, 2013 3:31 am

Natalie Portman wrote:
Pedram wrote:
Natalie Portman wrote:Do you guys agree with Qatar neutralizing people from Uruguay and paraguay and playing them as Qatari players ? (Example, Sebastian Soria).
They are a small country and can't produce enough talent, it is acceptable for them to resort to neutralizing foreign players.

But it kills the spirit of national team and the whole point it stands for.

National Team = a team where every player is from one nation.

People on GL mostly have zero patriotism or care for international football, hence they are okay with it. It's totally acceptable if the player has some sort of blood or emotional tie to the country through being raised or born there, but to just take someone, and after a few years in adulthood, change his nationality is bang out of order for me.

Qatar can't find their own talents ? well, tough shit man. Go invest in another sport other than football.

Yes and yes.

by lszanto Thu Oct 10, 2013 3:33 am

FalcaoPunch wrote:
Natalie Portman wrote:
Pedram wrote:They are a small country and can't produce enough talent, it is acceptable for them to resort to neutralizing foreign players.

But it kills the spirit of national team and the whole point it stands for.

National Team = a team where every player is from one nation.

People on GL mostly have zero patriotism or care for international football, hence they are okay with it. It's totally acceptable if the player has some sort of blood or emotional tie to the country through being raised or born there, but to just take someone, and after a few years in adulthood, change his nationality is bang out of order for me.

Qatar can't find their own talents ? well, tough shit man. Go invest in another sport other than football.

Yes and yes.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there, people don't really care enough for it to be an issue. If players just go live somewhere and then change nationalities then we might aswell just stop playing international football as it's just a waste of time and meaningless.

by punkfusion1992 Thu Oct 10, 2013 4:43 am

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
Ganso wrote:Diego Costa playing for Spain is ridiculous.Complete glory hunting."He should play for spain if he feels Spanish"..what an utter joke
Do you know him? Has he specifically told you he does not feel Spanish? I agree that it's likely that he feels more Brazilian than Spanish - but we shouldn't make judgements about things we know nothing about. People ought to have a right to self-identify and the benefit of the doubt.

See thats not his point though is it? If I "feel" that I am from a certain nation, I can just all of a sudden change my country. Diego Costa has played in a Brazil shirt in a friendly. The point is that he chose once and that is a decision he will have to live with. Otherwise International football will simply become like club football. If you are not good enough to get into the country you chose at first then well tough shit, its your choice and you made it. There should not be ANY backtracking imo.

by kiranr Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:19 am

If a country can invite and provide facilities for scientists to contribute to the R&D of the country, then a country can get talented footballers to contribute to the sporting culture of the country too.

There is a lot of hypocrisy in this thread and, in my view, it is a product of narrow mindedness and ignorance.

by Peccadillo Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:58 am

Yeah I am against Wilshere on this one.. Who an individual has a higher sense of nationalism for is down to them. If they are a citizen, have spent a reasonable length of time in the country (5 years sounds fine to me) and want to play for the nation of which they reside OR their nation of birth - that's fine by me.

Who are you to say Barnes is any less English than Gazza? Hargreaves less so than Carrick?

We can be a bit silly about it tbh.. Other countries don't seem to have a real issue with this - or if they do I am not aware of it. Eusebio, half the Dutch and French sides.

Nationalism is subjective. What traits or how you identify your nation with may not be how another defines it. I love Wilsheres tenacity and aggression (which is about his only "English trait" and one that seems to be increasing by the day), however as a player who is something of an anomaly in that he has a creative edge to him that you don't often see in English midfielders I would have thought he would be quite open to getting rid of the stigma surrounding the "English playing style" - which has proven pretty unsuccessful thus far.

by zigra Thu Oct 10, 2013 7:02 am

What I don't really get why football should be so special. As KennethCole said you'd give them a weapon and let them represent your country as a soldier but you don't want them to play football for your country? No problem with them becoming politicians and (partly) ruling you but they shouldn't play *bleep* football for the very same country?

Well sorry but wtf?

by lszanto Thu Oct 10, 2013 9:31 am

zigra wrote:What I don't really get why football should be so special. As KennethCole said you'd give them a weapon and let them represent your country as a soldier but you don't want them to play football for your country? No problem with them becoming politicians and (partly) ruling you but they shouldn't play *bleep* football for the very same country?

Well sorry but wtf?

Who said they want politicians to be from outside their countries?

And it should be special because without rules binding people to their actual nationality it is meaningless so if it ends up like you want then they might aswell just get rid of international football... Say goodbye to the biggest sporting event in the world...

by free_cat Thu Oct 10, 2013 9:42 am

Forza wrote:
Natalie Portman wrote:You should be eligible to play for countries in which:

- You are Born AND Raised

- Your IMMEDIATE parents (mom and dad) are from. (You have blood ties with)
Scenario: Both of your parents immigrated to the USA as children and became US citizens. One parent came from Portugal, the other parent came from Spain. Your 4 grandparents were born in Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg and Morocco, respectively. You are born while your parents are living in Thailand. Your parents divorce and your mother remarries a man from Egypt. You live with them as a child growing up. You go to Primary School in Japan, you go to High School in South Korea. You are enrolled in football academies in both of these countries. You join a football club in China and play professionally for the first time in the Chinese League. You then join a club in France and become a French citizen. You then join a club in Belgium and become a Belgian citizen. In the meantime, your mother and step-father have separated and one has become a citizen of Australia, whilst the other has become a citizen of Russia. Your biological father went to live in Buenos Aires after the divorce and has since become a citizen of Argentina. Except he isn't your biological father. While playing in Belgium, you discover that you were adopted and your biological mother and father are from India and Nepal, respectively. And you were actually born in Kazakhstan.

How many countries are you eligible to play for? Which ones? Why/why not?

Any country you hold a passport (which won't be all of them).

by El Jefe Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:10 pm

I think it's hard to set out a specific law for this, a lot of it depends on individual circumstances.

Twins could move from France to Spain at the age of 5, one might call himself French, the other might say he's Spanish. A lot of it comes down to the individual.

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